One way or another
by Pure Black
Summary: Harry returns to Hogwarts to begin his 6th year, but no one recognizes him! As if that’s not enough, a good looking man is with him. Everything is about to change, and as usual Harry is in the middle of it all. R for safety. REWRITTEN2007
1. Oh way!

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER ONE-**_

**BETA: **Hannah

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious

**LINK:** http:// www. fanfiction. net/s/3040483/1/

**DISCLAIMER: **All of the recognized characters belong to **JK Rowling, **and not me. I do not own anything that belongs to the HP world, nor do I make any money out of this

**NOTE: **This story was rewritten in October 2006.

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He was running so fast that he almost fell. He knew he had to run no matter what.

Run, run, and run.

No feelings, no anything.

It didn't work. A burning hate kept him going.

"Hey! Slow down or you'll kill yourself!" a voice shouted at him from behind. Harry Potter came to a dead stop. A black haired man ran almost into him, since he wasn't prepared for the abrupt ending of the chase.

"Honestly Raven!" the black haired one said scolding in-between laboured breaths. The man leaned over with his hands on his knees, fighting the urge to give in and drop down towards the ground and just rest.

"Oh shut up Blade! I know that you enjoy chasing me in at that neck breaking speed!" Raven/Harry teased with a cheeky smile firmly in place.

"I would if you did it because it was fun, but you don't really do it because of that, do you?" the man asked him seriously and looked at him intently. Harry didn't answer. Instead he turned his face away.

* * *

**¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨About three months later¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨**

Harry a.k.a Raven stood just outside the entrance of platform 9 ¾. His eyes swept forlornly over the many children with their families. They all looked so happy, despite the dark times with Voldemort's return. He felt a bit sad when he thought about his own life. He didn't have a family. Well, he had one now, but he couldn't tell anyone about them. People wouldn't understand if he did. He wanted to be normal like the rest of them, to be able to do things without being judged by everybody.

A black haired man named Blade joined his side.

"I can't believe you talked me into this!" he complained as he dragged a heavy trunk behind him. It made a lot of noise and since the man didn't particularly care where or who the trunk might hit people had to part and jump out of its way.

"Oh shut up already! Hogwarts needed a new DADA teacher!" said Raven in a voice revealing they had had this conversation many times before.

"Why me?"

"Because no one else dares. Besides, you'll be near me!" he said cheekily.

"Oh yeah... what a bonus," said Blade sarcastically and kicked the trunk in frustration when it tipped over because of weight of the things inside it. Raven only smiled softly at him. He knew the man well by now, and knew this was just an act to hide the fact that he was a little uneasy. Blade didn't like being around too many children at once, he claimed he couldn't handle them. Raven had to remind them that the ones attending Hogwarts would be older than three.

"So where's your friends?" Blade asked him and stood up straight after his private fight with the trunk was over. He put the hair hanging in his face away with an annoyed gesture.

Raven shrugged. "I don't know. We'll see them soon, I think," he answered and looked around slowly.

In the meantime people began to stop nearby to watch them. The girls drooled over the two men. Because men they were.

One with raven black half long hair, pale skin and piercing green eyes, slim and fit but well muscled and tall. He looked very mysterious. Something was familiar about him but no one could put their finger on it.

The other man also had black hair, but it was a different shade. It was black, but with some blue shades in it. The hair went down to his chin with some of it hanging down in his eyes, just like the black haired one. The two men looked quite alike in their facial features, but the black haired one with blue shades were a bit taller than the other one. The black haired man with blue shades even had green eyes, like the other one, but they were darker, almost black.

"Who are they?" Hermione whispered to Ginny a distance from the men so they couldn't hear them.

"I don't know. Could they be exchange students?" she asked with a thoughtful frown.

"They look too old for being 7th year students, at least the taller one does," Hermione answered immediately. She was a true know it all at heart. There was probably nothing that could ever change that.

"They can't be professors, can they? Somehow I recognise the shorter black haired man from before…," said Ginny and Hermione nodded in agreement.

Ron on the other hand was one of the few who wasn't very impressed by the men. He was standing a bit away from the rest of his family, shooting dark looks at the two men that drew the entire female populations eyes upon them. Even his own mum's!

"Mum. Do you know who the new DADA teacher is? I mean, did Dumbledore tell anyone during a meeting?" Ginny asked in a low voice.

"He did mention it, " answered a flustered Mrs. Weasley. She hadn't been this worked up since the Lockhart incident. "He said he didn't have a clue about who the person in question was. He's never met him. We all thought that was a bit odd, especially during these times," she answered but didn't seem to have much against the choice now when she had seen the man, _if_ he was the new professor, they didn't know that yet.

"Still do, mind you," Arthur added, not at all bothered with his wife. He knew she would never act upon a little crush.

Quite a lot of the order members were standing all around the station today because Harry would be arriving together with the Dursleys. They couldn't be careful enough, an attack today could prove to be fatal for the Order. There wasn't much protection around the train, and magical wards were hard to set up since there already were a dozen keeping the muggles out.

"We haven't heard from Harry all summer! What if the Dursleys have done something to him?" Ron asked when he gave up glaring at the men. They didn't look his way anyhow.

"I don't think so, dear. It's true that no one of our guards outside his home have seen much of him this summer, but Albus would know if something was wrong, dear," Molly said and tried to peak over a group of girls' heads to be able to see the two men better.

"Oh my!" said Arthur when they saw the Dursleys come straight at them but without Harry. Vernon was looking angry.

The raven-haired man said something to the taller man. The taller one nodded, went over to the Dursleys, and stopped them before they could reach anyone from the Order. No one could hear what the man said to them, but the Dursleys got a scared look upon their faces and hurried away from the station. The man returned to the raven haired man and they talked quietly with each other. Soon afterwards the two of them went through the stone wall towards the Hogwarts Express.

The lot that had surrounded them followed quickly and Hermione and the Weasleys were left alone.

"Where is Harry?" Hermione asked the others in an anxious voice even if they didn't have any more answers than she did. Molly looked worried as well.

"Where did they go?" Lupin shouted to them. He had come out from behind a garbage bin.

"Who?" Ron yelled back in hope that Lupin had seen Harry. Remus pointed toward the general direction the Durleys had gone. Lupin hadn't been able to see more than that they had gone left, from where he was hiding.

"The Dursleys!" Lupin clarified with an impatient movement. He had thought it had been obvious.

"I don't know! Check the car park!" Arthur shouted back to him and walked away to talk with another Order member, probably to see if there was anything he could do. The Order were running around like confused hens. They hadn't expected anything quite like this. A possible fight, yes, but certainly not a whispered conversation and no Harry!

"Stay here in case Harry arrives," Moody ordered the rest of them from behind. He was taking charge over the situation, someone had to.

Tonks, disguised as a young girl, asked them quickly about the black haired man.

"I've never seen him before, but I recognised the raven haired one," said Molly as she wrung her hands anxiously. Her dreams and illusions around the tall man had been shattered the moment she realised he had something to do with the loss of Harry.

"Strange... death eaters?" Tonks asked.

"Maybe. It's possible. I'll go through and watch them!" Arthur announced just as he came back, and leaned casually against the wall falling through without any muggles realising he had just disappeared.

* * *

Raven and Blade were currently eating a lollipop each. Raven was licking his while looking at Blade teasingly. He was putting on a show. Blade on the other hand was glaring at him and didn't quite appreciate the gesture. 

"You'd better stop that before you cause the girls to faint, or some boys even. They're getting all hard," said Blade and looked at Ravens pink tongue that was 'working' the blood red lollipop. Raven took a glance at the crowd. People were indeed watching him non-stop with their eyes glazed over.

"Right..." he said slowly and threw away his candy nonchalantly on the floor. For a while it looked like some girls would dive after it and keep it as a trophy before they decided against it. Maybe they were trying to save the very little dignity that they had left.

"Sometimes I wonder about you," Blade said.

"Why's that?" Raven drawled.

"You've got tons of girls drooling over you and you don't seem to care. Tell me... are you gay?"

Raven snorted. "I don't want drooling girls. It's a real turn off. If I'd want something that drools I'd buy myself a dog. Come on, what do you want me to do? Pick one of them right now and fuck her senseless up against the wall?" he asked sarcastically.

Blade crossed his arms and looked at him defiantly. "No , I wasn't thinking that... but it's appealing. It would be a hell of a show I'm sure!" Blade said excited with a new light coming into his eyes when he realised the possibilities.

"Shut up!" Raven said hitting him on the arm.

"Aww!" said Blade in a baby voice.

"Look! There's Arthur! I think he was sent here to watch us. They're probably wondering whether we're death eaters or not since you told the Dursleys to fuck off."

"Yes. We couldn't have them revealing that you haven't been with them at all this summer, could we?" he said knowingly as he too watched Arthur trying to keep an eye on them, in a way that he himself probably thought was discreet. It wasn't, the way he kept sneaking glances at them was extremely obvious and Blade rolled his eyes.

"Nope, we couldn't have it that way, but I think they'll find out I wasn't living with the Dursleys sooner or later."

"No doubt, but at least we buy ourselves some time to explain."

"I don't see why you want more time," Raven said with confusion even if he hid it on the outside.

"It's better to explain it at Hogwarts than here," said Blade calmly.

Raven nodded. He could understand the reasoning behind that. There were too many people around this place, and enemies. Chances were the conversation would be overheard.

"Let's get our asses on board the train," he decided as he grew tired of watching Arthur make an ass out of himself. Blade went on the train first. Raven handed him his trunk. It was a brand new black one so no one would recognize him because of it.

"Come on Raven!" said Blade and led the way to a compartment.

"Geez! One would think you're the one that has been on this train the previous five years," said Raven amused. Blade didn't comment on that. Instead he sat down in silence and made himself at home. Raven sat down across from him and just watched him without a word.

"What?" Blade said when he was tired of being stared at.

"Are you going to say something?" Raven asked.

"Um... no?"

"Oh... OK." Raven continued to look at him.

"You're just doing that to freak me out, aren't you?" Blade finally said.

"Why, yes, I believe so!" said Raven with a little smile on his soft pink lips. They always had some weird things going on between them.

"So what do you want me to say?" Blade asked as he gave in.

Harry shrugged non committedly and flicked a speck of dust off of his pants nonchalantly. "Perhaps tell me about what you're planning on doing once we're at Hogwarts?" Raven asked. He really liked to know things before they happened. He didn't like surprises.

"Eat," was the simple answer from Blade. Raven waited for more to come but it never did. He began to grow a little frustrated.

"Eat," he said in disbelief.

"If you're trying to freak me out I feel free to give the very same treatment back to you." Raven sighed at their own insanity and took out a book called_ Curses and Defense _and began to read it.

"So you won't be keeping me company then?" Blade asked when he saw that but he wasn't really expecting an answer.

"No!" he grunted, still with his nose in the book.

"Ah... I thought so. I might as well get some sleep. Something tells me we won't get much of that tonight," said Blade in a resigned voice.

Raven eventually abandoned his book and just lay back with closed eyes like Blade.

_Who is he trying to fool? He knows just as well as I do that we won't sleep now_, Raven thought. Raven never did let himself fall asleep during rides such as this. To many things could happen if they let themselves be vulnerable and sleep in the open. Anyone could enter this compartment while they slept, speaking of which… He opened his eyes immediately when he heard the door open...

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	2. Still on the train

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER TWO- **_

**BETA: **Hannah

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com/users/draycious

**LINK: **http:// www. fanfiction. net/s/3040483/1/

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"Hi! Can we sit here?" a couple of giggling 7th years asked them in chorus.

"If you must," said Raven with disinterest but the girls didn't even notice the tone of his voice. They were a mix of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students. They didn't have any luggage with them so Raven assumed that they had another compartment in charge originally, but then they noticed him and Blade in this compartment and decided to check them out. Unfortunate for them in that case...

"Where do you come from?" a Ravenclaw asked them.

"That's a secret," said Blade with a small smile playing on his lips. He didn't care much about the girls. He was just relaxed and not very interested in a conversation but he wouldn't mind teasing them a little bit. He ran a hand over the seat lazily, as if it was purely incidental. The girls watched his hand moving with interest. Funny how small things could make a whole story.

"C'mon!" said a daring Gryffindor and laid a hand on Blade's leg.

"You're a Gryffindor, aren't you?" he asked, but it was much more a statement than anything else. Raven had told him quite a few things about Hogwarts. He wasn't sure whether he liked the school or not. Many things seemed too strict and positively boring. Things such as curfew and school uniforms were something he would never understand, then again he wasn't from the UK.

"Yes I am!" the girl beamed and the others became jealous for some reason, maybe they thought he had caught an interest in her. If that was the case, they were wrong. Blade looked over at Raven and watched how a Ravenclaw was currently stroking a hand up Raven's leg and thighs. He fought the first impression to laugh when he saw Raven's clear displeasure with the whole thing. He could understand that, he never expected the girls to be so straight forward.

"Gryffindors are known for their braveness. But I suggest that you remove your hand before you get me fired before I even have a chance to begin my new job!" Blade said firmly, but with a hint of amusement in his voice. The Gryffindor girl shot back like she had been burnt.

Raven bit back a laugh. The situation and the look upon the girls' faces was just too funny!

The Ravenclaw which who was seated closest to him and had her hand on his leg drew back.

"You too?" she asked him horrified with wide brown eyes.

"Nope," he said and watched her relax.

"Oh thank god!" she said relieved.

"You won't report me, will you?" The Gryffindor asked Blade on the edge of tears. It was probably a huge shock for her to suddenly find out that she had tried to feel her new Professor up, even if he was young and super hot.

"No. No of course not. You couldn't have known," he said calmly.

"I'm so s-s-sorry P-Professor!" she stuttered, clearly mortified.

"It's alright. Just relax, take a deep breath," Blade joked. The girl jumped up on her feet and bolted out the door before anyone could say anything else. The other girls followed her. They weren't so eager to be left in a compartment with a professor that they had only just showed how foolish they were.

In the new found silence the two men looked at each other before they broke down in laugher.

"That was fun! We have to do it again sometime!" said Raven once he sobered up.

"Poor girl. I don't think she'll be able to look at me for the rest of the year."

"What girl?" a voice drawled. Both of them looked at the door, they hadn't heard it open.

"Oh hello!" said Blade lightly when he saw who it was.

"What girl?" Draco Malfoy repeated curiously as he walked in further.

"I don't know her name. A Gryffindor," Blade shrugged.

"Nothing important then. What's your name?" Draco asked and leaned against the now closed door. Raven was hoping that someone would open it so Malfoy would fall down flat on his ass, but no one heard his silent wish.

"Raven, and that's Blade," he said when Blade didn't bother opening his mouth. Raven crossed his arms over his chest and slid down in his seat a little bit further.

"I recognise you from somewhere!" Malfoy said with narrowed eyes when he looked at Raven.

"Really?" he said and made his voice sound sceptical.

"Or someone that looks like you," Draco added.

"Who?" Blade asked Draco.

"I don't know!" he said exasperated. If there was something Draco hated, it was not knowing things. It would be frustrating to any human.

"Let me know if you remember, alright?"

"Alright. So have the two of you checked out any girls yet?" Draco asked unexpectedly and sat down beside Raven without an invitation, but what was there to expect? Malfoy thought he owned the world. Harry had never seen this side of Malfoy, and he became thoughtful. He wasn't sure if this was just another act or if this Malfoy was for real. The snobbishness was there, but he didn't think Malfoy would ever tone that down.

"No and I doubt I will," said Blade.

"Ah...I see. You swing _that _way," said Draco with a nasty smile and his eyebrow somewhere up in his hair. Blade only smiled and didn't comment on that. Raven knew that he wasn't gay and they were both secure enough with themselves not to fly off the handle if someone commented on their sexually, no matter what it might be.

"What about you?" Draco asked turned to Raven.

"I haven't seen anyone yet. Yourself?"

"I've got Pansy. Actually that's why I'm in here with you guys. The bitch threw me out of the compartment we were in. She's having one of her moods. I think she's having her period you know. She got all bitchy on me just because I _looked _at another girl! I didn't even say anything!" said Draco in an agitated voice.

Raven laughed, it actually was quite funny.

"I see. They tend to get touchy, don't they?" said Raven.

"Yeah! Tell me about it!" said Draco and shook his head like he couldn't believe it could get so bad once a month.

"What's your name?" Blade asked only then did Raven realize that they hadn't asked for it before.

"Draco Malfoy. So who are you guys? Exchange students? You seem a bit too old to be 7th years."

"You'll see at the feast. I dare say that you'll be surprised. Not even your _dad_ knows about this." Draco stared at Raven.

"He shouldn't. He's in prison," he said weakly.

"Yes, people think so, but both you and I know that that isn't the case. It's a charmed Goyle that's in Azkaban. We both know that your father camps out at your home, posing as Goyle," said Raven.

"I... I thought my mother had an affair with Goyle!" said Draco in a flat voice and Raven understood that Draco hadn't actually been told about all this. He was surprised, and even felt a little pity. Imagine thinking your own mother had an affair with _Goyle _of all people.

"She's not. It's Lucius in disguise," he said curtly.

"How do you know? Are you death eaters?" Draco asked in a low voice as if someone was nearby and could hear them.

"Maybe. We won't tell you anything about anything," said Blade.

"Why not?" Draco asked with a bit of irritation. It's never fun to get a little bit of information when the best part is being left out. To Raven it appeared as if Malfoy was always left out of the good stuff, even his own parents hadn't told him the truth about their plans. He was almost felt insulted on Malfoy's behalf, then again maybe not.

"Not everyone bows for a Malfoy," Blade answered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco frowned.

"Nothing."

Hermione and Ron chose that exact moment to stumble in and interrupt their conversation. Blade thought that was a good thing. He didn't much feel up to fending off an irate Malfoy who demanded answers.

_Damn, too late for bringing Draco on his ass! _Raven thought sadly.

"There you are Malfoy! Did you forget our meeting in the first carriage? Everyone else is already there waiting for you. The head girl sent us to go looking for you. You're so irresponsible! Get moving!" Hermione snapped in a voice full of dislike. Not only had she been sent off to look for Malfoy by the girl which stole _her _title as head girl, but she also had to berate Malfoy in front of the two men she had been drooling over earlier. She didn't make her best introduction and she was pissed off.

"Yes, yes! Don't get your knickers in a twist. I'll be back later after the meeting. I'll see you later Raven, Blade!" said Malfoy and shoved Ron and Hermione out the door and followed himself. The door slammed shut.

"So that was Draco Malfoy? The look fits your description but nothing else does. Are you _sure_ that wasn't his twin brother?" Blade asked.

"No, I'm not sure. That was... different. I'm sure everything will go back to normal once he finds out who I really am," he said thoughtfully. He really didn't understand this new Malfoy.

"Can we talk about something else? This really bores me, what about our upcoming visit in Transylvania?" Blade asked.

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that! We're going to see Rafael!" Raven said excitedly.

"_Now_ you remember! I've been waiting two whole weeks for you to mention it!"

"And now you couldn't wait any longer and _had_ to ask?" Raven teased him.

"Well...yeah."

"That is just stupid, waiting for that long!"

"How come man?" Blade said in a whining American voice. It was typical for him to act immature around Raven, while in reality he could handle himself with dignity and grace. It had been apart of his upbringing to learn good manners.

"Do I really have to explain it to you?" Raven asked aghast but continued anyway. "If you wanted to talk about it that badly, you should have just said so. Why would you wait?"

"When you put it that way I'm willing to admit that it sounds pretty weird."

"That's an understatement!"

"So, what are we going to tell people at Hogwarts? They'll notice that you're missing for sure," Blade asked curiously. Since they hadn't discussed this event yet they still hadn't decided how to act or make excuses for themselves inside Hogwarts once the term started.

"That's another terrible thing I have to live with. Just because I'm the boy who lived I've got Albus breathing down my neck, not to mention everyone else! This makes it so much more complicated to get away. If Albus could I'm sure he'd put a tracking spell on me so he always knows where I am."

"Are you sure he hasn't already?"

"Are you kidding me? He would have gone after me this summer if he had. Not to mention locking me into a cage to have hanging from the roof of his office so I would be his own little singing bird! Besides, we've checked for spells on me, remember? We didn't find anything. Honestly, since when did your brain go on vacation?"

Blade glared at him.

"Says you whose brain has since long ago been non existent!"

"God we're immature! What a childish argument!" said Raven happily, happy because he could catch up on some of his lost childhood.

"I know, but it's good for you. The serious stuff can wait until later. To be honest I am not so interested in making plans right now. My life is structured enough as it is. Can you please go and find something to drink instead?"

"Sure, just sit tight."

* * *

Raven found his way around the curious girls that ran from door to door_. Spreading gossip, no doub_t, he thought. Her had a sneaking suspicion that the menu of today's gossip was Blade and himself.

Raven found the witch that sold candy and drinks. He decided to buy some sweets as well. It didn't matter how many sweets he ate. His hard training was keeping him slim no matter what. The training he was currently kept on would continue at Hogwarts. He would have sessions together with Blade. Blade was his sparring partner. They were a good team and worked well together. He wouldn't want it any other way.

"That would be one galleon, please," said the witch once he had chosen which kind of candy he wanted. He paid and left without a second look at her.

"Raven! _Raven!_"

Raven turned around when he heard his name being called out. He was surprised to see it was Ginny, Ron's younger sister. He couldn't even begin to guess what she would want with him. She couldn't have figured out who he really was, right?

* * *


	3. Raven's true words

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER THREE-**_

**BETA: **Hannah

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users /Draycious

* * *

"Yes?" he asked Ginny Weasley in a bored voice.

"The girls over there told me your name is Raven," she said and gestured towards the left. Raven looked over and saw a gang of giggling girls. He rolled his eyes. It seemed like Ginny was their spokesperson.

"So?" he said; now truly bored. He had been thought all of this before. He just wanted to be left alone and not be bothered by any girls.

"I figured that I'd say hello and welcome you to Hogwarts, or the train at least," she said with a laugh and stuck her hands down in her pockets. Raven noticed that Ginny was very self-confident. She had never been that before or maybe she had, but only just not around him. To him she would always be the shy girl whom stuck her elbow down the porridge bowl.

"Thank you," he said.

"Do you know Harry Potter?" she asked out of the blue.

"We've meet," he said shortly.

"Really? Was I with him at the time?" she asked him excited.

"I don't remember, why?" he asked and wondered if Ginny had been drinking coffee or something because she was hyper by now. He didn't like the fact that she used his name to brag or keep conversations going. He hoped she didn't used his famous Potter name to impress people.

"Because I recognise you!" she said and smiled. She almost jumped up and down.

_Hormones, _he thought.

"Well... you should!" he said and left her standing there. He almost ran back to take shelter from the girls in the compartment together with Blade. He threw himself down in the seat after he had locked the door firmly behind him.

"Next time _you _go get the drinks!" he said sourly.

"Girl attack?" Blade grinned.

"You bettcha."

"I don't know what's wrong with people! It's not like we're veelas or something!"

Raven nodded.

"I know. It's sick!" he said. He opened one of the drinks and took a sip. He watched Blade doing the same.

"We got to do something about it," said Blade in all honestly. "We really can't have it this way inside Hogwarts."

Ravens' look said 'duh' all the way...

"Like what? Tell everyone that we're gay and go fuck Malfoy?" Raven asked sarcastically.

"No, that's a bad idea," said Blade. He frowned. "No, actually, that's a _horrible_ idea but something needs to be done. At least for me since I'm a teacher."

"Oh yeah! Save yourself and leave me to take the full impact!" said Raven irritated and slammed his fist down on the seat.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. You're too touchy for your own good!" said Blade sternly.

"Yeah, I'm stung. Whatever, let's at least act like we're normal."

"That's tough!" Blade said jokingly but shook his head when he saw Raven's less than amused face. "Never mind, do you have _Moonsorrow- suden uni _with you?"

"It's somewhere in my bag. You need to find it yourself if you want it," he said because he was too lazy to get up.

"Alright," said Blade and stood up to take down Raven's bag from the shelf above his head. He did it without any kind of trouble, it was an easy task because he was very strong, intense training sessions would do that to you. Raven watched Blade make his own way around in his bag.

"Hey! What is this?" Blade asked and held up a thong. "I didn't know you wore that kind of stuff! Leather, well if that's your style...!!!" Blade teased him.

"Give me that!" said Raven cried and snatched the offending piece of clothing out of Blade's hand. "It must have found it's way into my bag in the hurry I had when I packed," he said and stuffed it down his pocket.

"Really," said Blade sarcastically and snatched it right out of the pocket to have a look at it again..

"**_Really_**!" Raven said in a high pitched voice.

"And whose are they, prey tell, hum?" Blade asked as he swung them around in the air.

"Er..." He didn't really know. It could belong to anyone.

"AHA! Exactly what I thought, BUSTED!" Blade shouted.

"Will you stop it? And SHUT UP! It's obviously one of the girls that's the owner."

"Whatever you say," said Blade in a most irritating singsong voice.

"I'm Serious!" Raven howled.

"Hi guys, I'm back. What's going on?" Malfoy asked curiously as he entered the compartment again, obviously done with his duties for today.

"Nothing. Blade is just being a total jerk," said Raven and glared at said man, while he threw the girl's underwear out of the window before Malfoy had a chance to see what it was.

"Oh..." said Malfoy and sat down. He wasn't content with the answer but he didn't push. It was apparent Raven didn't want to talk about it, if the glare was any incantation.

"Care to tell me how you got in here? I thought I locked the door," said Raven.

"Well, yeah you did but I unlocked it."

"How? Alohomora doesn't help!"

"I used another spell," said Draco.

"You did? Tell us about it!" said Blade in an interested voice and leaned forward. Raven was a bit interested himself, even if he would never admit it out loud. On the other hand he wasn't all that surprised that Malfoy could do such a thing as open a door with an advanced spell.

"I _did_ try Alohomora at first when I noticed that the door was locked. When it didn't work I decided to try a stronger spell. It's not that difficult to use. All that's needed is a little bit of practise. It's not a very common spell since it's very old but it's effective. The incantation is _lotco_."

"How come you knew about it when it's not a common spell?"

"My family is of an old heritage. Our knowledge goes deep back in the ages. My father taught me as the knowledge passing from generation to generation."

"Just like the dark arts," said Raven in a non-questioningly voice. Draco stared before he composed himself.

"I don't know where you got that ridiculous idea from," he said snottily.

"Is it really all that ridiculous Draco? Your father is into dark arts. He's a _death eater _and works for the Dark Lord. It's only natural if he taught you what he knew. If he didn't then that would be weird."

"Hey! You have no proof of my father being a death eater!" Draco half shouted. He was seething in his seat. The dear Malfoy did not like being accused of things, no matter how true they might be.

"He was at the Ministry during the attack, wasn't he? He was caught in the act all dressed up like a death eater, wasn't he? He's got the dark mark, _doesn't he_? _Well_?" Raven asked demandingly. Draco was redeemed speechless by this verbal attack and he seemed somehow much smaller now than before. His already pale face went even paler.

"Now you're wondering how I know about the attack and the reason why your father is in Azkaban? Because it's classified information, right? I was there Draco, I saw it happen. That's how, but don't worry your pretty little head about it. I won't tell the school."

"Why not? Why won't you use it as blackmail?" Draco asked, sounding completely lost. He wasn't brought up like Raven, they were two people from complete different worlds.

"And act like a Malfoy? Because you lovely father did that to the school board in your second year at Hogwarts, true yes? Yeah, that's true all right. He blackmailed the board members. Too bad for your dad that it didn't work that long. Instead he was the one too lose in the end, not only his power over those string puppets, but he also lost a bit of face there. His reputation took a turn. Ah well, shit happens. Besides, I don't need to blackmail you. You don't have anything that I want. I've already got everything that I want and need."

"Who are you?" Draco asked in a shaky voice after the little psychological attack Raven performed.

"I'm the best _almost_ friend you'll ever have. Because you haven't got any friends. You only act like friends with people that you consider important to have as allies."

"That's enough Raven!" said Blade sharply. He had watched Malfoy during the entire conversation and he hadn't said a word. He had seen how Malfoy had paled, looked ready to throw up, winced at some true and hard words... and Blade finally felt that it was enough because Draco was looking so damn defeated when Raven said the last part about friends.

Raven sank into a silence. He knew that he had been cruel but he didn't regret it. If there would be a future for Malfoy someone needed to pull him down from the clouds and to reality, as well as put Malfoy into the right place.

"Do you work for the Ministry?" Draco asked Blade, why he hadn't left already, Raven didn't know. Perhaps Draco was curious about them like the rest of the world, so he put up with all the verbal attacks.

"No we don't," said Blade softly.

"Who _do_ you work for?"

"Ourselves and no one else," said Raven and Blade gave him an angry look and held up a hand to keep him silent.

"Yourselves?"

"Not really. I'm going to work for Dumbledore," Blade said to smooth things over. It would do them no good if words went around about them being disloyal to Dumbledore.

"How come?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"I'm the new teacher."

"I, _what_?" Draco asked surprised. Raven had never seen the Slytherin so out of character before. He had lost his entire cool.

"Yes you heard right. I'm your new teacher."

"What about Raven?" Draco asked and glanced at him. Raven suspected Draco wasn't too fond of him at the moment.

"You'll know what and _who_ he is later." Draco was about to protest but a look from Blade stopped him.

"Look guys, I don't know what happened since I left you but something obviously did. I'd like to be your friend," said Draco apparently making up his mind right then and there. For once he didn't let his Malfoy pride get in the way for him. Way too often his pride had stopped him from doing what he really wanted to.

"I'd love for you to be my friend if the circumstances were different but they are not," said Raven.

"Why not and what circumstances?" Malfoy asked, swallowing his disappointment. Maybe they could work this out.

"Your past, your history, your attitude, my past, my history, my attitude... and trust. No matter what you do I will never ever trust you completely," said Raven seriously.

"Why not?" said Draco, looking a bit down.

"Because no one can trust you, You're a Malfoy and even if there is a saying not to judge anyone by family, well you are one of the exceptions. You're a true Malfoy. You never do anything unless it's for your own benefit," Blade answered.

"Now I see what you meant with 'not everyone bows for a Malfoy'. I get it all thrown back in my face for being a Malfoy! But that's cool. We're equal." Draco said nonchalantly, but Harry could se he was really hurt by their response to his request of a friendship. Maybe they shouldn't have been so frank about it, but at least that way Malfoy learned.

"We may hang out, relax with each other for the time being but you'll never get close to us and know our secrets. Got that?" Raven said, to lighten the mood up a bit.

"Yes I do. It would be like any other day for me. That's how it is with everyone. Sometimes I just wish I could have a close, _real _friend. Then again some motherfucker decided that I shouldn't just because I was born a Malfoy! No death eater kid is close to anyone, not even the other death eater kids, and no I didn't just admit that anyone in my family is a deatheater!" said Draco fiercely with his voice full of bitterness. It was clear to everyone in the compartment that Draco had been dragging around with those thought in his mind way too long. He didn't deserve to be that lonely, no matter what he did.

"You actually did admit it" said Blade instead of saying anything about Malfoy's life situation as it looked right now. What do you say to that anyway? _'I'm sorry everybody hates you, and that you're lonely and miserable?'_

"You know Draco, I don't think that you'll wish to be my friend once you find out who I am," said Raven. Draco looked at him for a while before he gave his answer.

"You'll be fine as long as you aren't Longbottom or Hagrid. Besides, I have a clue about who you really are but I won't say anything until it's confirmed tonight. Now if you excuse me; I have a bitch to forgive me and two oaf's to shout and yell at, I'll catch up with you later," said Draco in a complete change of mood and strode out.

"That was weird. He is either a very good actor or he's got mood swings that resemble yours!" said Blade to Raven. Raven chose to give him the silent treatment for the rest of the ride because of that comment.

* * *


	4. Arrival

**

* * *

**

**Author note: **

Raven: Harry

Blade: Blade

* * *

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER FOUR-** _

**BETA:** Tammy

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

* * *

They had both sat in a peaceful silence after Malfoy had left them in that odd kind of way. Soon enough though, the train stopped and Blade was the first one to break the silence. 

"Look! Ron and Hermione are still looking for you!" said Blade and Raven saw the duo run around and asking people from his previous DA group if they had seen him.

"Let them work up a sweat before you tell them that I'm here, alright? Personally, I'm going to the castle," said Raven.

"Yo! I'm coming with you. I'm no professor yet so I don't give a shit if the students are worried," said Blade and walked beside him. Together they took down their trunks and made their way out of the train. At times it was difficult because the train was so crowded with a lot of confused young wizards and witches who tried to get all their things off the train in one go.

"I think you'll be a horrible teacher due to your lack of interest in the students," Raven stated.

"I wouldn't be a teacher in the first place if it wasn't for you. Besides, I've only got interest in you," Blade replied.

"Thanks," said Raven with a roll of his eyes. He wasn't sure if that kind of interest was a good thing. He was sure Blade would make his life difficult in some way or another.

"You're welcome." The odd gorgeous pair that always teased each other seemed to glide up to the carriages and waited to take the first one available.

"So those were the ones that you rode on to the Ministry?" Blade asked him in a low voice when he saw the Thesterals that stood ready to move the carriages.

"Yes," Raven tried to say but it came out as a low whisper. He gazed at the death-horses with darkened eyes; flashes of Sirius and the veil came unbidden behind his eyes.

"It's alright," Blade hurried to assure him when he recognized that Raven was thinking back to Sirius and the moment with the veil in the Ministry.

"Yeah... right," he said in a hollow voice void of emotions. Raven knew that his face was perfectly blank; all of him was lack of emotions like that of a body that's left after the Dementors kiss.

"Get a grip on yourself and be strong!" said Blade in quite a harshly hissed voice but it did the trick. Raven snapped back to normal, well, as normal as could be considered.

"Thanks. It happens every time you know. Every time that I think of him," he said in a low voice, guilty and pain-filled thoughts still fresh in his mind.

"I know, but not always. You've gotten better but you still have a long way to go before you can move on completely," said Blade in for once, a serious voice. He understood the meaning of loosing someone in an unexpected way, without warning. The shock usually didn't leave the body, least of all the mind, until way later. That didn't mean an expected death hurt any less though, because no death was ever easy on those left behind.

"Yeah. I know..." said Raven pensively and was lost in his own world while they took the short ride up to the castle. Blade watchfully left him alone with his thoughts.

Raven and Blade walked into the Great hall together, to join the opening feast of the new term.

"I'm going to say hello to Albus. I have to sit with him and the other teachers, you know." Blade said and Raven thought he sounded rather unenthusiastic about going up to the staff table.

"I guess that I'll see you tomorrow then. Do I have you for tomorrow?" Raven asked. He knew Blade had been owled about the details of his new job.

"I honestly don't know about that. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Wait and see, yeah. See yah!" said Raven in a far away voice when he walked over to the Gryffindor table. Raven waited patiently while the first years were sorted. He didn't see Ron or Hermione but before Dumbledore spoke his last couple of words for the day he was interrupted.

"YOU!" Raven looked up when he heard his friend Ron's voice yell at some one. It took a while before he understood that Ron had in fact been yelling out to him. Ron was walking very quickly towards the table, and was glaring right at him, with what Ron must have supposed to be a threatening look, though really it only made him look decidedly cross-eyed and ill.

"Who, me?" Raven asked.

"Yeah you! Who do you think you are? Do you think that you are better than everyone else? You were socializing with Malfoy! And you are sitting in _my_ chair! And at the Gryffindor table! What are you doing here? Go to the Slytherin table where you belong you filthy death eater!" Ron yelled. He was making a scene and Raven didn't like it one bit. Every table was looking at them and whispering among themselves. Malfoy however was looking mildly surprised and watched with an air of coolness around him. He seemed almost indifferent to what was happening.

"Is there something wrong? What did I ever do to you?" Raven answered calmly.

"You were rude to _my_ sister!"

"I was? I can't seem to recall... Why do you think I was rude? Because I said **thank you **when she told me ' welcome to Hogwarts'?"

"No! When you said 'you should' to her in that rude way when she said that she recognized you. And Harry's not on the train and that fellow of yours said something to his relatives so they left in a hurry. Harry wasn't on the train so what did you do to him?" By now Dean and Seamus was holding Ron back from attacking.

Raven smiled nastily... _Ron_ was in for a big surprise.

* * *


	5. Summer breaks

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER **

_**-CHAPTER FIVE-**_

**BETA: **Greeneyes

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

**NOTES:** Harry: is called **Raven. Blade: **Teacher, DADA

* * *

Raven decided to let his less known devilish side come out. He had a flare for dramatics and causing a scene was one of his specialties. Therefore he stood up and spoke load and clear to everyone in the hall. 

"Let me introduce you to your new DADA teacher Blade. You shall call him Professor _or_ Blade." said Raven when he stood up and pointed at Blade. People began to applaud even if they thought the whole situation was a bit odd. They stopped their applaud shortly after because Raven was still standing and they understood that he still more to say.

"First years, welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you'll have many interesting years here. But of course, not _too _interesting." he said with a little laugh and a wink. The students laughed and clapped a little bit before settling down once again. "Let's pray that Hogwarts is lucky to escape basilisks, secret chambers, competitions, crazy teachers, oops, already too late for that now when we've got Blade... (Students laughed hesitantly) and let's pray for a hell of a good Quidditch season! (People cheered). First years, and every one else for that matter, note that the forbidden forest is **very** much forbidden for everyone and therefore Forbidden is its name with a big F." He paused a little to breath, and then continued because no teacher had yet to make a move to stop him.

"If you're out after curfew, points or detention may occur and believe me, you don't want to spend a night with Filch. (Many nodded in agreement to that). Filch is probably begging Albus to tell you all that any magic in the corridors is strictly forbidden. If you wish to see the full extent of the list of forbidden things you may take a minute, or a few _days_, to read the list on Filch's door. I think that's all..." said Raven and many applauded. He had made a much better speech than Albus. The students thought he was new and exciting, so even the elder years took time to actually listen to the warnings. Usually the older grades knew those lists by heart since it was the same every year.

"Yes that's all indeed Mr... Unless you wish to tell us your name and what you're doing here that is," said Albus with slight coldness in his voice. Raven doubted many of the students detected it, because it was well hidden in the soothing words and twinkling eyes.

"If you insist headmaster. A few of you know me as Raven. Almost all of you may now know me as Raven Potter." he said load and clear.

"Potter? Are you family with Harry Potter?" A Hufflepuff shouted out.

"No. My _past_ is Harry Potter, my _present_ Raven Potter and my future... is unknown," he said and sat down. Whispers immediately broke out. His speech had a resemblance with those words Tom Riddle once spoke to him, but it didn't mean the same thing.

"Tuck in everybody!" Blade shouted happily when food arrived. Raven was surprised that he hadn't been forcefully removed out of the hall yet by the teachers, but he supposed they were still too unsure of him to make a move.

---------------------------------------------------

Malfoy strode over after the whole hall had eaten in an unusual silence.

"Hello Raven."

"Hello Draco. Was your guess correct?"

"Yes it was. But somehow I'm still surprised," he said and looked thoughtful.

"Ah... yes. Who wouldn't be? Even dear old Ron still thinks I'm a death eater." he looked over and glared at Ron. Draco smirked.

"I don't think the weasel is going to be your friend this year. He's always been jealous of you. Take forth year for example. This year with you looking hot like that, there's no way he'll be able to handle it when you get all the attention." Malfoy said with a sneer.

"Is that true Ron?" he asked thoughtfully turned to the red boy.

"No it's not! I don't see why you care when you aren't Harry!" he spat.

"That's true. I'm not Harry. I was, but not anymore."

"I still believe you are a death eater! You have to prove that you're Harry Potter!"

"That's correct!" said a voice from the main doors.

"Cornelius Fudge, always a pleasure!" said Raven when he turned around in his chair to see the man properly. He didn't mean that at all, and the sarcasm was evident in his voice. He didn't care about pretending to like Fudge; it was no crime not to like him.

"I've gotten an urgent message about your presence here! I thought you said I'd have no further problem with you during the last time we spoke."

"I never thought there would be any more problems Minister. I don't know why you've been sent after. I'm just trying to attend to school. There's no problem at all!" he said lazily.

"No problem at all indeed MR! You said that too the last time! It took us weeks to repair the Ministry doors and undo all the nasty hexes on the Department of Mysteries and we still don't know what you took! The poor woman you attacked is still in hiding! The horrible words still haven't faded."

"Don't count on it either. I personally think that Umbridge deserved the words 'I'm an evil bitch' printed into her forehead. I think I'll do it again sometime. Besides, I told you that the blown up doors _was- not- my- fault_! I can't help that you can't repair them with magic and who said that I took anything?" Raven said firmly but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You created all these problems without taking anything? I'm not buying it mister! Tell us what you took or you'll spend **ANOTHER** week in prison."

"You can't put me into jail when I haven't done anything wrong," he said firmly and stared chillingly at the Minister. "And I assure you that I didn't _take_ anything. I just _borrowed._" he added as an afterthought.

"AHA! So you admit that you stole something?" Fudge yelled and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"I'm not admitting anything."

"Listen MR! Raven... or whoever you are, I want your last name **now**!"

"Potter." Fudge blinked.

"We had you in custody for a week and you refused to tell us!" he said unbelievingly. "You must be lying."

"You never asked nicely. This was nice comparing to the language everyone used during my week locked up." he said and grinned. "Not that it wasn't cozy and all, but I prefer my own bed before that stone floor any day! It made me cranky." He loved the look on Fudges face when he said that. The Minister had probably never before in his entire life met someone like him. He wasn't afraid if the Minister and he talked to him like he wanted. He was playful and cheeky, and he didn't care one bit if he was rude to Fudge or anyone else. They were all clowns in his eyes, they could never do anything right. Those sort of men didn't deserve his respect. He would be polite and respectful, to those who deserved it. He knew he would get no where with just ridiculing everyone in his way. He wasn't that kind of person who needed to push down others to feel better about himself.

"I don't believe you for one minute! You're just making up the last name, like everything else!" Fudge yelled.

"Get the Harry Potter file," Raven said lazily without raising his voice at all.

"What?" said Fudge stupidly.

"NOW MAN! Work it!" Raven yelled unexpected and Fudge gave an order to a man behind them that was another ministry worker. Raven took out his wand from his sleeve for the first time tonight. Fudge winced but Raven pretended not to notice. Raven waved his wand and conjured a few chairs out from thin air.

"Please have a seat. No one shall accuse Hogwarts for not taking care of its guests," he said, playing the perfect host. Fudge sat down carefully as if he thought that the chair might explode.

"Why do you want me to get the Harry Potter file? You can't have a look in it. Only a few selected and **authorized **ministry workers and I can have a look in it." Fudge said snottily, thinking he was something big. Fudge looked around in the hall. "Where is Harry Potter?" Fudge asked and began to walk around, the chair forgotten.

"Minister! Urgent news sir!" said a worker that burst through the doors.

"What is it? Another death eater attack?"

"No sir. It's Harry Potter sir!"

"Yes?" Fudge asked the tired messenger.

"Mr. Potter was thrown into an American jail in New York sir." The messenger exclaimed loudly and clearly for everyone to hear. Raven sighed. Those Ministry workers really weren't bright at all. He watched how the gossip spread thought out the hall.

"What? When?" Fudge yelled with wide eyes and his plum colored cloak went all over the place when he waved his arms.

"Two weeks after Hogwarts last term was ended. He was sentenced two weeks in jail for fighting. When he was released he returned to England by muggle airplane. He hasn't been seen or magically trailed since."

"What about his relatives?"

"We checked sir. He hasn't been there all summer. They said that a blonde man came and got him. Unwillingly I believe; because his relatives told us about a fight between the two of them. The description of the blonde man fits with Blade that was in jail together with Harry Potter and later together with Raven when we arrested them sir." The man said and threw a quick and frightened glance over at Raven. Raven grinned at him and showed him his teeth. He remembered that man; he had been around when he had been interrogated by the Ministry. He had really enjoyed making that man's life miserable with various kind of flirting. The poor man was more jumpy than a virgin. He couldn't help but let his devilish side take over back then.

"Thank you Gordon," Fudge said and looked flustered. Fudge now had bigger problems than he could handle. Raven exchanged looks with Blade. They were in for it now.

"Well, well, well. You are criminals after all! Where have you taken Harry Potter?"

"We haven't taken him anywhere." Blade said and remained seated.

"You were the last one seen with him. Witnesses tell us you fought him, and he's been missing ever since!"

"Apparently he _was _seen or why else was he sent to jail?" Raven asked cleverly and Fudge blushed. Clearly he hadn't thought about that.

"That's not the point!" Fudge yelled. The man was so predictable.

"Isn't it?" Raven muttered and looked up at the roof. He had nothing more to say for the moment.

"What business did you have with Lucius Malfoy?" Fudge asked suddenly. Raven took a quick look at Malfoy beside him.

"What's the matter? Is it illegal to visit an old friend?" Raven snapped.

"A prisoner and death eater! Not to mention that you two went there together with a suspected death eater, Mr. Goyle!" Draco raised an eyebrow at that. Raven could tell Draco was desperately trying to piece the facts together.

"So? I have nothing to do with the Dark Lord."

"Dark Lord is what his followers call him." said an auror who was there as Fudge's bodyguard.

"Whatever. You've already seen my arm, I've got no mark," he said in a bored voice. He wasn't really worried about this situation.

"Yes you do!" said Blade said quite unexpectedly. It made Raven feel a bit uneasy. He wasn't sure what direction Blade steered this conversation in, and usually they thought very much alike so they could both tell what the other wanted to get out of a situation. Clearly that wasn't the case right now. Raven was left nullified.

"Shut up!" Raven shoot back at him. Blade smiled wickedly made him look insane. Before he could say anything else another man arrived.

"Minister! Here is Mr Potter's file!" Fudge took the file it and opened it. Something unexpected happened. A great laugh erupted from the file and a monogram of Raven erupted in the air. It was clear and big enough for everyone to see.

"Hello Fudge," it spoke. Raven was watching himself with a smile.

"You're not still upset are you? I told you the doors weren't really my fault," The hologram smiled cheekily. "You're trying to read the Harry Potter file. Why, my dear Minister, would you do that? Because I told you to? That's just something you use for excuse to have look! Anyway, you'll notice a few changes as well as a bit of news for you. Don't get yourself worked up over it! Since this is a magical file it changes itself when new things are discovered, I'm sure you can expect plenty of news. For one, Potter's school years are in here. Read them aloud please."

The other Raven fell silent and Fudge picked up a paper with a shaky hand.

"Mr. Potter's school years;" Fudge read. "This information has been stored in the special Potter file in the United States Ministry on reprimand of Blade, Mr. Potter's investor and spokesman.

**Year one: **Mr. Potter defeated Voldemort who was in the body of Quirrel.

**Year two: **Parselmouth ability was confirmed; discovered before his first year at a zoo and he once again defeated Voldemort; found the chamber of secrets, killed a basilisk and saved Ginny Weasly.

**Third year: **Helped his innocent godfather Sirius Black to escape from Hogwarts school. Found Peter Pettigrew though Pettigrew escaped.

**Fourth year: **Took his time to join the Triwizard competition unwillingly. Made it to take the cup together with Cedric Diggory, was portkeyed to a graveyard where he met Voldemort. Voldemort was resurrected and Cedric was killed by Wormtail. Harry dueled Voldemort and escaped. Mad-eye Moody was found out to be an impostor of Barty Couch.

**Fifth year: **Lead a group called the DA. Met Umbridge in detention, was almost expelled, ran to the Ministry and fought death eaters and Voldemort. Sirius Black died in a fight when he fought for the light side.

**Sixth year: **Is in trouble already...

Fudge dropped the paper.

Raven was not smiling any longer. He just watched himself in the hologram, just like everybody else.

"Read it by now? Good boy!" The hologram taunted and proceeded to take a piece of paper from its pocket.

"Now it's my turn to read."

"Snape doesn't like me, no scratch that. Snape hates me!

Malfoy could be decent if he got his head out of his ass (people in the hall laughed, even Malfoy himself).

Dumbledore is a sweet-o-maniac. (Dumbledore chuckled).

Lockhart is a dreadful person! (Every guy cheered).

Malfoy is easy to fool (Malfoy glared at him.)

Remus Lupin is cool (applauds).

I HATE POTIONS! (Hall laughed).

I despise Fudge even more than Voldemort (Fudge blushed dark red).

I'm never going out with Cho Chang again even if my life depends on it (laugher).

Snape is awful, worst person to look for (people nodded).

Snape is cute! Awww! That's all!

And for you that didn't know, I was sarcastic on that last one!"

The hall laughed.

"Now then. Read page two minister." Fudge obliged.

"**Sirius Black**

Sirius Black leaves half of his gold to his godson Harry J Potter and the other half to Remus J Lupin. His house and properties goes to Harry when he turns 17, until then it's up to Remus J Lupin to look after it..."

"Good. Now read the third paper."

"Harry James Potter, born the 31st of July is being provided with a guardian from US Wizarding International Security Service. His guardian is carefully chosen and is currently **BLADE**.. Moreover, Harry J Potter is written as a citizen in the United States of American and the **USAWW** (United States of America Wizarding World) and the English ministry no longer has any control over Harry J Potter that's of age in our eyes and therefore is a legal adult.

_Remus Lupin, _which Sirius Black left as Harry's godfather is from now on unable to decide over him since those rules overrule those of the custody laws. Blade is instead deciding, not over Harry, but over his actions against the English Ministry. The Dursley's are no longer Harry's guardians/keepers over the summer, he goes to Blade. If Blade is unable to take care of Mr Potter he goes to Scarce, the USAWW Minister of the magical Ministry. Albus Dumbledore no longer has any say or 'best of interest' for Harry.

Since Harry changed during the summer he decided to change more than only his appearance. His name is now officially **Raven **_James Potter_.. (Students and teachers gasped) His biological father is also another person than James Potter. (Gasps rung out in the hall)... Fudge looked up shocked.

"Ah, yes. Quite a shock, isn't it? By the way, the letter is written by Scarce himself, you may look that up if you wish. I suppose it is quite a shock for you Remus, isn't it? C'mon! I know your standing there in the corner!" The hologram said. Everyone turned their attention to the left corner behind the teacher table when Remus stepped out from the shadows. Poor man, his eyes were wide and he was clearly shocked. His hands shook slightly when he removed a strand of hair out of his eyes.

"Anyway, fourth paper please!" "Birth certificate-"

Fudge was interrupted by the hologram.

"Quit the length, weight and other details. Just jump onto my parents."

"Biological Parent, Mother: Lily Rose Evans-Potter.

Biological Parent, Father:...

* * *


	6. Evil

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER SIX-_**

**BETA:** Fallen da Woods

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users /draycious

**NOTE:** I only wrote this short input because I'm a tease by nature.

* * *

****

**_THE FATHER'S POV_**

_The father of Raven is in the hall and he has only just heard who Raven's father is. This is what's going through in the fathers mind: _

Oh my god! Merlin! How did that happen? No scratch that! Of course I know, man meet woman and a woman meets man and they go somewhere and they have sexual intercourse which may lead to a baby and ... What the hell am I thinking? Since when did I become so single minded? Sexual intercourse indeed….. I am behaving like a Gryffindor. What? I am? No! Ok then... maybe a little, I hate that sorting hat! I swear I'll destroy it just before I die. Which shall be in ten seconds judging of everybody's looks directed at me. IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

He looked around in the hall and spotted a familiar face.

HA! He's mine. I bet that _IDIOT _didn't have a clue...

And the headmaster, oh yeah he looks at me. He stares at me with his mouth open, right? Doesn't he? Well you've finally done it! You've surprised the headmaster.

And Raven... **_Potter_, **he's mine...

"**WHAT?" **he exploded when he reached that last thought.

* * *


	7. Truth and nothing but the truth

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_-CHAPTER SEVEN-_

**BETA: **tammy

**NOTE: **Harry is called Raven.

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

* * *

"Quit the length, weight and details. Just jump onto the parents," Raven said. Fudge decided to amuse him and do his bidding. 

"**Biological Parent, Mother: _Lily _**Rose Evans/Potter" Fudge read and so far everything was normal. The whole hall could see Fudge's eyes widen as he continued to read further. The man stammered a bit before taking a deep breath and continued, if in a rather shaky voice.

"**Biological Parent, Father**: **_Severus_** Cercis Snape" The hall gasped and everyone's head immediately turned to Snape at the teachers table. Fudge didn't mind but continued to read what the whole document said.

"**Adoptive Parent: _James _**Harry Potter (unknown of it)

**Godfather 1: _Sirius_** Cetus Black

**Godfather 2: _Remus _**James Lupin" Fudge finished and laid down the document on the table and awaited further instructions. There was a heavy silence in the crowded hall while everyone waited for something to happen.

"WHAT?" it was Severus that exploded into the silence. He went pale, even paler than before and he didn't look very happy. He looked thunderous, and the teachers next to him inched away every so slowly.

"_But I hate him_!" both Severus and the monogram said at the same time. Snape quieted down and stared. His planned verbal attack over this _ludicrous_ accusation of him being a father was forgotten. Instead his anger was replaced with curiosity, and a sense of uneasiness.

"Don't look so shocked Snape. You're my dad after all. There is nothing wrong if we think and speak in the same ways. I personally think it's darn funny that every time you've said '_you're just like your father Potter', _you've unknowingly insulted yourself. I'm nothing like James, I never was. By the way, watch it what you tell Goyle, not everyone is who he or she seem to be. You should know, you're the King of Illusions if you know what I mean."

Snape looked floored. It wasn't everyday you got the biggest shock in your life in front of hundreds of people, and then being almost mocked about it by his newfound son.

"I think that's everything you need to know for the time being, that, and don't fuck with me if you know what is for your own good. I need to go," the other Raven said. Then he snapped, "Hey Fudge, get your ass out of here. I'm the bloody boy-who-lived, I am no death eater!"

Then the Monogram disappeared in a flash of light.

"Unbelievable! It's impossible! I request a hearing! Truth serum, right now!" Fudge bellowed. His men from the Ministry hurried to oblige him. Raven shrugged carelessly while they ran around like chickens and went to the teachers' table and sat down in Blade's lap. Snape tried to get as far away as possible from him but unfortunately for Snape he sat in the chair next to Blade and therefore Raven.

"Make sure they don't try to make me say things I'll regret," said Raven to Blade.

"I'll see to it," said Blade seriously. He intended to keep his promise. God knows there were a lot of things raven knew that could have a rather damaging affect on both of them if anyone found out.

Raven was seated in a chair in front of the teachers' table as an Auror gave him the truth serum. It was a brand new sort and he didn't like it but the good side of it was that the serum made him able to express emotions and move around like normal, but he still had to speak the truth no matter what.

"Do you have to use the strongest truth serum ever brewed?" Blade snarled nastily to Fudge. He did not like this situation.

"We have to make sure he is telling the truth!" Fudge said right back, never missing a beat.

"Fine. Get on with it!" Blade said and waved his hand in a dismissing manor. Fudge glared at him but his flustered face ruined the whole look.

"What's your full name?" Fudge asked turned to Raven once they were ready to start the hearing. Ministry workers surrounded them and some wrote down what they said.

"Which one do you wish to have? My own, my jail name, my famous Potter name or the name my mother said she'd give me if I had been announced as Severus' child?"

Fudge looked around in the hall with a confused look but no one came to his aid.

"Just tell them all!" he finally said frustrated.

"**My own: **Raven James Potter

**Jail Name: **Raven Blood

**Famous Potter name: **Harry James Potter

**Severus' child: **Cercis Severin Snape

Further more I'm known as the **boy who lived**, within Slytherin; the **_golden boy_**, by Draco Malfoy **_scar-head _**and at the Dursleys **BOY**!" he announced.

"Right," said Fudge and glanced over at Malfoy. "Have you always known that Snape is your father?"

"No I have not," he said truthfully if yet a bit annoyed over the question. What did they think?

"When did you find out?"

"Earlier this summer," he answered shortly. Just because he had to speak the truth didn't mean he had to elaborate his answers.

"How did you find out about it?" Fudge asked and stood on his toes before he dropped back.

Raven sighed.

"USAWW Ministry told me and they had proof."

"What kind of proof?"

"Do _not_ answer that!" said Blade sharply.

Raven happily obliged. Fudge glared at Blade but said nothing about it. He had no voice in the matter; Scarce's letter had made that thing clear.

"Why did you end up in jail?" he asked Raven instead.

"I killed someone," Raven blurted out bluntly. He was actually looking rather pleased with himself and wasn't all that concerned about the other people around him. He didn't care what they thought.

"W-what? W-who did you kill?" Fudge stammered. He was shaken like the rest of the hall. If this really _was_ Harry Potter then... What could that mean for their future? Everyone shook in their clothes just thinking about it.

"Peter Pettigrew. He was a death eater, I'm sure you've heard about it. I've told you myself even... He betrayed my mum and James. He also framed my godfather Sirius Black."

"Why did you go to jail?" Fudge asked hurriedly. He really didn't need anyone else to know about that particular mistake he had made. He was already on shaky grounds. Another scandal and he might loose his job.

"I was caught"

"Why did they let you go?" said Fudge and he let it slip in his voice that he would rather have seen that Raven had stayed locked up for good. That would mean fewer problems for him. The good man Fudge didn't like taking care of problems, he rather saw other people taking care of them for him.

"They didn't have any proof of me doing anything illegal. Instead I was locked up for fighting in public and sending five people to hospital but that was unfair because they started it. One mother fucker tried to kill me with a knife!"

"Who tried to kill you?" Fudge said at once. He had always been a control freak. He wanted to know things but when the truth didn't fit him he dismissed it as lies.

"I have no idea." That was the truth, the person hadn't tried to kill him because he was the savior, and it had been a typical drunken fight, no less and no more.

"How did you get in contact with Blade?"

"He came and picked me up and then he took me to the Master."

"Master?" Fudge repeated questioningly.

"Do **not** answer that!" said Blade again.

"So you are a death eater! He took you to You Know Who, didn't he?" Fudge said in a loud accusing voice.

"No he didn't, and say Voldemort or at least the Dark Lord. _You Know Who _is such a ridiculous name!" Said Raven unable to stop himself. Fudge looked at him sourly.

"Are you a death eater? " he asked straight to the point.

"No."

"Is Blade a Death Eater?"

"No. I haven't seen a mark on him and the only part of his body that I haven't actually seen is his ass hole and I'm quite sure that Voldemort didn't place it there. Besides, I trust Blade and I know for a fact that he wouldn't like to work for Voldemort," he said and didn't care about how crude he was, Fudge made a fake cough to hide his embarrassment.

"You've seen all of his body? Why?"

Raven didn't know if Fudge was a pervert or simply stupid but he shrugged and gave a little smile and began his story:

"That's an interesting story. You see, the girls stole our clothes and the attack alarm began to ring and we had to fight naked. When the alarm goes off, we have to drop everything we are currently doing, it doesn't even mater if we're in the bathroom at the time," he said with humor. He remembered some quite obscene incidents because of that rule. He continued his story. "Unfortunately we were both pressed down in a small passage down to an underground room, not meant nor big enough for two people, and Blade crawled before me backwards, so we were head to head. In the end we both slipped so I landed on Blade. Underneath him there was some bones and plants. The room hadn't been used in at least two centuries. He was going through an electric shock from one of the plants and was unable to move 20 minutes afterwards so I had to clean his body from all the poisonous plants. Therefore I've seen his whole body." Blade was looking downright unhappy with the memory. Perhaps rightfully so, it hadn't been one of his most glorious moments. He had been pretty roughed up, and his manliness had taken a turn when he had to succumb to another mans touch so he could move. Blade didn't like showing any kind of weakness nor being dependant on anyone.

"So you... Err... aren't a couple?" Fudge asked carefully.

"Nah! I'm perfectly straight thank you very much! I don't mind people thinking I'm gay; the girls are too close and clingy all the time. I have had to kiss Blade more than once to get rid of them. It's nothing I fancy doing all the time."

"No of course not. Ahem. _Right_... So, was Sirius Black innocent?" Fudge asked and changed the subject in a hurry.

"Yes."

"What did you do at the Ministry this summer?"

"Do not answer," Blade said at once.

"I won't," Raven assured him and winked.

"What's your relationship with Snape like?" It was unexpected, but then again recent revelations required that sort of question to be asked.

"Want the truth of that? It's simple, our relationship went down a bad path from the very first time we met each other. Right now it's worse than ever. I hate him; he hates me so it's a mutual feeling. I don't want anything to do with him; he wants nothing to do with me…" he said truthfully, he had no other choice after taking the potion. "He is my potion teacher," he added offhand and a little bit out of the blue.

"Do you want to be Snape's son?"

"It's better then to be Pettigrew's."

"That's not saying much Mr. Potter."

"There is nothing much to say about it. I had nothing against Snape at first you know. But then he was a real ass to me and dislike grew to hate, but not a deep hate... I don't know..." He said and felt slightly uneasy because of all the stares for the first time today.

"Have you ever used dark arts?"

"Of course," he said in an obvious voice. Dark arts for him weren't something strange or rare. He used the dark arts in his usual daily life.

"You have? What kind of Dark arts?" Raven thought about that. There were various kinds of dark arts, normally people only thought of Dark Arts as the unforgivable, and he supposed that's what Fudge wanted to know about. Therefore he began to name them.

"Crucio, Avada Kedavra-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Blade yelled. "These were used when he was up against Pettigrew, do not believe nor write anything else in the records," he spat in Raven's defense. Blade himself was no stranger to the Dark arts, but that didn't mean he was any less of a human than the rest of them. The wizarding society in England was so narrow-minded now days. The many dark lords and wars against them had made the people suspicious and less tolerable than the rest of the world.

"Did you ever live with Sirius Black?" Fudge continued to ask even if Raven could see he was itching to ask him more about the dark arts. Fudge had to give that thought up when he looked over at Blade who sat and listened with rapt attention so he wouldn't miss anything in case he needed to butt in and save Raven's secrets from being spilled.

"Sorta," he said and used the popular teenager slang.

"Sorta? What do you mean?"

"I was never living with him, just sort of visited him, and I was never alone during those visits."

"Did you love him?"

"Love him? I don't know. What is love? I think I do, _did_," he said and lay weight on the last word. He continued to say exactly what came up in his mind: "I want to think it is love I feel but I don't know."

"Do you love your friends?" Fudge asked and looked at him strangely.

"I don't know."

"Remus Lupin?"

"I don't know," he said aggravated. He couldn't lie, so why did Fudge insist to ask him the same question all over again? He just didn't know and that was very frustrating for him. He wanted to love, but he didn't know how.

"He doesn't know what love is," said Remus with an empty voice. He was very saddened by this fact, but he wasn't very surprised. He had always suspected Harry didn't come from a loving home, so if no one had ever showed Harry love, then how could Harry recognize love for what it is? Hermione sniffled slightly when she heard it. A tear ran down on Ginny's chin.

"How did your relatives treat you?" Albus asked suspiciously, and ignored Fudge's ignorant expression when he was no longer the only one to be in charge of the questions.

"I wasn't treated very well at all, but yet I know I was treated better than some other people. I was worth nothing in their eyes. I was a freak and they wanted to get rid off me. They constantly reminded me of how worthless I am."

"Do you like the Dursley's?" Fudge asked stupidly.

"No. I'll have them punished so they'll regret ever crossing my way," he said and let show a smug smile. It made chills run down the spines of residents in the hall.

"In what way will you punish them?"

"None of your business," he said truthfully. He really didn't think it was any of Fudge's business, nor anyone else's for that matter. Fudge was taken aback. He looked once again around the hall, which all attention upon Raven.

"What happened on the night when Voldemort returned?"

"I would rather not tell you. You didn't believe me before. You don't need to know. All the important people that matter know already."

"That's, really, I, Never!" Fudge spluttered.

"Shut up!" said Raven

"Why did you visit Goyle?" Fudge asked when he had composed himself. He really had lost a lot of face today.

"I never did."

"What? They saw you!" Fudge said.

"Illusion," said Raven in a bored tone.

"What?"

"Enough," was all Blade said. He didn't need to say anything else either, Raven knew what he could and could not talk about. Blade on the other hand was watching the whole hearing with a new found calm after his latest outburst. He was confident everything would turn out just fine.

"Take off your shirt please. We need to check you for marks."

"Yeah, whatever," Raven said. He took of his shirt to let everyone see a lean muscular upper body.

"Wow" was heard from many people. He was being stared at with heated glances, but he didn't mind. Lust was nothing foreign to him.

"If you think this is something you should see Blade strip!" he joked and the hall laughed and many seemed interested in hearing more about Blade stripping, but like earlier Raven wasn't very forthcoming with the information. The juicy details would have to wait.

They began to search his body for marks, and he was asked to turn around. Various spells to remove glamour's were used.

"Wait! What's that?" Fudge asked came closer. Fudge touched his shoulder to take a closer look. Raven took a step back and shook Fudge's hand of off him.

"Don't touch me! I hate having people touching me!" he snarled. He was truly angry for the first time today with Fudge.

"Why?" Remus asked and stepped closer as well. He had been very quiet during this hearing, and had just listened mostly. Raven turned around and looked at him.

"I don't know why. I just don't like people touching me unless it's someone I know." Remus reached out a hand and touched him lightly. Raven still took a step back despite knowing Remus since before.

"You know me," said Remus and it was clear to everyone that he was hurt.

"Do I really? There isn't much I actually do know about you. I don't trust you," he said frankly and stared Remus down.

* * *


	8. Selected Vision

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_-CHAPTER EIGHT-_

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO:** www. live journal. com /users /draycious

**CHECK OUT**: The sun goes down.

* * *

"You _do_ know me," Remus said, his voice held a pleading tone to it and it was clear to everyone he was hurt by the open display of distrust Raven showed him. Raven shook his head and the werewolf winced. Albus took in the scene before him and decided to interfere before things got any worse. 

"Harry... Raven. Come here," Albus said. Raven walked over to the older man and stood by his side. Albus reached out a hand touched him gently on the arm. Raven's reactions were more drastic this time. He hit the hand with a blocking movement and took a defensive position, his body facing his so called 'attacker'. The thing with the truth potion was that it also revealed a person's true actions, sometimes you want to laugh but hold it in, the potion made you unable to suppress it. Raven narrowed his eyes and kept them trained on Albus. He looked at the old man, suspicion written clearly across his face.

"Back off!" Raven growled in warning. Albus held up his hands and backed away slowly to show him he meant no harm. The constant twinkle that shone Albus's eyes was long gone.

"Severus, give it a try," Albus said in a low voice. He had decided to treat Harry liked an injured animal. He showed all the traits a wild animal showed when captured or injured.

"But I-_No_!" Severus spluttered in protest, watching Raven with undisguised distain and horror.

Albus put an old wrinkled hand on Severus's shoulder. "Please, my dear boy," Albus pleaded. Severus stood up reluctantly and reached out to touch Raven slowly. Raven backed away slightly and looked at him reservedly. He wasn't sure what to expect from Snape.

"I won't hurt you," Severus spoke quietly, his eyes fixed on Raven. His voice was surprisingly gentle, and it came as a shock to all those who knew Snape.

Raven snorted at him and flexed his hands. "I know that. You can't hurt me, I'm superior to you. I'm not afraid of you. I just don't like you touching me." Raven spat at the man. Blade stood up slowly and put his arms around Raven from behind. Instead of backing away or defending himself in any way, Raven relaxed and leaned into the strong arms holding him while looking at the others defiantly.

"Why do you let him hold you?" Fudge asked with a slight trace of hopelessness in his voice. He really didn't understand this new Harry Potter. Nothing he ever did was expected, nor could it be explained with normal and clear sense.

Raven shrugged lightly. "I trust him. He's my best friend," said Raven, not taking any notice of Ron's sour face.

"Why don't you trust us, those whom you have known for many years now?" Albus asked spreading his arms out in a gesture that motioned to the others in the room.

"I've got my reasons," Raven said mysteriously. He was sure many would read into that, but he found that he didn't care what the others thought.

"May I hug you?" Remus asked unexpectedly. Raven studied him quietly for a while.

"You may," he said at last. He was still on his guard when Remus came near him again. As soon Blade had let him go Lupin reached forward hugged the boy. Raven didn't return the embrace, but neither did he move out of the way.

"Why do you let Remus Lupin hug you?" Fudge asked.

"Because I like Remus and he asked." Liking someone and trusting them wasn't the same thing, those two emotions could be treated separately, even if it was sometimes hard to do so. Those two emotions usually went into each other, and made it nearly impossible to separate them.

"May I give you a hug as well?" Albus asked and took a few steps closer. Raven immediately glared at him. The man would just do himself and everyone else a favor if he simply sat down in a chair and shut up.

"No you may not!" Raven said at once. What did they think he was, a living teddy bear ready give people hugs left and right? A lot of people asked for a hug but he declined each time.

"May I?" Severus finally asked without anyone telling him to ask for it. Many people stared openly at Snape but he didn't seem to care. He had a sort of a new light on his face now. Raven couldn't help but wonder what was going on inside Snape's head. He couldn't decide whether it was something positive or not.

Raven thought about Snape's request. It couldn't hurt...

"You may do so," he said slowly. "Even if I don't like you, you're still my father," he explained. Severus hugged him unexpectedly hard. For quite a long time too. Perhaps Snape wasn't used to hugs; after all, no one wanted to be near the man.

"You may not like me but you still let me hug you," Severus said when he let go.

"You're my father," Raven simply repeated.

* * *

Raven had a short break where he had something to drink. Five minutes later the never ending questioning session continued. 

"What _is_ it on your shoulder? It looks like a big brown spot!" said Fudge, unable to hold his curiosity any longer. The Minister had his hands folded behind his back and was pacing back and forth in front of Raven who was now seated in a chair.

"It's a glamour spell," Raven offered as information.

Fudge drew out his wand; a long and thin dark colored wood. Raven thought it was an odd contrast since the minister himself wasn't very tall. He shrugged; perhaps the man had tried to make himself more important looking with a large wand. "Finite Incantum!" Fudge exclaimed, his wand pointed at the spot on Ravens shoulder.

Those who were seated up the front near Raven gasped when they saw his tattoo. Those who couldn't quite see craned their necks in an attempt to get a better view.

"Look at that! Amazing!" Raven had a tattoo with the face of a vampire with glowing green eyes - oddly enough it was illustrated as himself. It was wonderfully drawn and looked just like somebody had planted a photograph on his skin.

"Who is that?" Fudge asked. He seemed to want to touch it but Raven simply glared at him and Fudge thought the better of it in a hurry.

"Raven," he answered.

"Who is Raven?" said Fudge uneasily, he suspected the answer already.

"I am."

"Are you a vampire?" asked Fudge, fear in his eyes. Raven supposed it would be very inconvenient for the Ministry if their savior turned out to be a vampire. The politics would go to hell, and the Ministry would be forced to either welcome the vampires to the society or condemn their savior.

"Not really," he replied nonchalantly.

Fudge raised his eyebrows and went back to pacing while asking questions. "What does that suppose to mean? Either you are or you're not. Explain yourself!" Fudge demanded.

"Don't tell him that!" Blade cut in hurriedly. Fudge twirled around on Blade. It didn't look half as impressive as it did when Snape worked the trick.

"Why do you stop him of answering all the **INTERESTING** questions?" Fudge bellowed at Blade and shook in fury.

"Because it's _way_ too interesting for you to handle, _Minister._" Blade sneered.

"Good answer," said Raven happily. He liked it when someone defied the Minister or ridiculed him.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Fudge asked Raven once he had calmed down a little and drunk a few mouthfuls of water.

Raven shook his head in denial. "No but I have a fuck partner that I use to meet up with quite often," he offered happily and Blade laughed. "Shut up Blade! You know that I can't help but answer! Besides, I may tell them about _your _special friend if you're not careful!" he threatened.

"Actually, it's all that funny!" Blade said in a hurry and Raven smirked knowingly at him. He knew Blade would back off with that threat. Blade was a very private person and didn't want the whole world to know certain things about him. It was how he had been raised.

"One last question, exactly how did Sirius Black die?" Fudge asked Raven and ignored the earlier drabbles. Raven grimaced. He would rather not have had that reminder. He didn't think it was any of the Ministry's business anyway. They had always condemned Sirius.

"Ask Albus," he said instead since he honestly didn't want to answer the question.

The hearing was declared ended and Raven was given the antidote. He was in a bad mood after it was over but he was happy the respect of him was no less than before. That meant he had lost no dignity because of the truth serum.

"What do you want us to call you now?" Albus asked him.

"Raven!" he said at once. Snape opened his mouth but closed it after being the receiver of a nasty look from Raven.

"That's it then. Prefects, lead your first years to the common rooms!" Raven yelled.

The whole hall was set in motion. Raven was about to go as well, but was stopped.

"Raven, Blade, please come with me," Albus said to them. They followed Albus out from the hall, McGonagall, Lupin and Snape following silently behind..

"Can we use your chambers Severus?" Albus asked. Severus glanced over at Lupin and Minerva with a sour look but when his eyes met Raven's he agreed to it. The way up to the Headmasters office was long despite all the shortcuts and Snape's place would be a more convenient place to walk to.

"Blade, how old are you?" Minerva asked and provided some small talk as they walked to Snape's quarters.

"I'm 23." Blade walked next to Raven, sharing a look with his friend at the question. Both of them were bored and wanted to be alone, but they weren't able to, not yet.

"What's your last name?" Snape asked.

"That is a secret," Blade said with a charming smile. Snape didn't seem overly charmed by it, but the others smiled anyways.

"Call him Blood," Raven offered.

"Is that his name?" Albus asked surprised. Raven gave him a little shrug.

"I'm not telling you! Hey Blade, down those stairs!" Raven said quickly to Blade before he could take off in the wrong direction. "Ash to ash, dust to dust," Raven murmured when he walked down the stairs and trailed a hand on the cold stone wall. He suddenly stopped. "Bored now!" Raven announced.

"Just pretend you're having fun," Blade said like a mother would to her child. He was used to Raven acting out every once in a while.

"I said... BORED NOW!" he yelled and caused the four teachers (well one ex and one headmaster) to jump and take a step back in surprise. Raven was acting insane and the others didn't know what caused it. They had never witnessed him quite like this before. Raven liked to mess with peoples heads, and act strangely so they got something to talk and think about for weeks afterward.

"Raven!" said Blade sharply. Raven hissed to him like a snake.

"I want to go see Master...NOW!" he said strongly. They stared at him. It looked like he had a setback in age or something. Snape furrowed his eyebrows, it could be an act, but for what purpose?

"Later," Blade said dismissively but Raven would have none of it. He stamped his foot and literally threw a tantrum. On the inside he was laughing at the teachers crestfallen and stupefied looks.

"NOW!" The teachers watched passively. They weren't sure what was happening, but Blade seemed to know so they let him take care of it for now.

"LATER AND THAT'S FINAL!" Blade yelled. Raven pouted. He sulked all the way to Snape's chambers. The other teachers walked in an uncomfortable silence, not knowing what to make of the situation before them. They had a feeling they were supposed to just let it go.

"Stop acting out, you're scaring your teachers," Blade hissed in his ear when they stopped and waited for Severus to give the password to his chambers.

"Are you included?" he asked and grinned when no one was watching them.

"_No_!" Blade gave him a dirty look.

"Well, you said my teachers and that's what you are. My teacher!"

"I don't know what you're playing at," said Blade confused when he tried to figure Raven out.

"Neither do I. I guess I'm just tired. I'll behave from now on, I promise."

"Good."

* * *

Raven turned his attention unto the room he had just stepped into. 

"Dad, you're a slob! Who could have known? You always keep your classroom so neat!" Raven said giggling as he looked around the room. The living room they stood in was a total mess. Severus' clothes were spread all over the floor, they looked like they had been thrown there, which was probably the case. A black pair of underwear were hanging down from a lamp in the ceiling and a sock was dangling from a bookshelf. A couple of dirty dishes lay on the floor underneath a coffee table in front of the sofa. Even empty beer cans littered around the room in various places.

"Severus…" Albus said almost speechless. "I thought I told you to get a house elf down here yesterday."

"That would be needed," Blade said looking around with distaste. Snape glared at him.

_"I did _have a house elf here!" Severus said in a defensive voice. Clearly they had been through this before, and Severus was very protective of his quarters.

"And the house elf cleaned it all up?" asked Minerva as she looked around. She was hiding her amusement with her stern voice.

"Yes," Snape said with a sneer and crossed his arms defiantly.

Albus looked at him faintly. "Oh dear. I've told you so many times to put stuff where they rightfully belong Severus! Just like you do in your classroom." Albus shook his head sadly when he looked around. "Just look at all this, can you believe this room was completely clean yesterday after the house elf had been here?" Albus asked Raven who shook his head.

"It is the students he puts in detention who is keeping the classroom clean for him!" Raven said teasingly, intending for it to be a joke, but Severus looked honestly ashamed so Raven realized with much surprise, that Severus actually _did _indeed hand out detentions because he wanted the students to clean for him.

"There's a lot we don't know about him," Blade murmured to him when he too understood. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and banished the mess in a mere flick.

"There! Now let's have a seat!" he said happily and plopped down in the now visible armchair.

Remus and Severus competed to sit down next to Raven. Blade _coincidently _just so happened to move to another armchair so both adults could sit next to Raven. Remus laid an arm around Raven's shoulders and Severus hurriedly copied that movement. Raven frowned. He felt a bit uneasy but he pushed the feeling down and sat still, even if the current position felt uncomnfortable.

"Why are we here?" Blade asked.

"I believe that there are many things to discuss. Like the Dursley's, what happened this past summer, Severus's relation to Raven, Remus and Peter Pettigrew."

"You already know about that," said Raven slowly.

"Not the details. I must say I'm surprised you abandoned the Dursley's now when you know their purpose. It's blood magic, Raven. It's important," Dumbledore said looking at Raven over the rim his glasses. It was a stern look and it pissed Raven off. Dumbledore had no right to preach about what he could and couldn't do.

"Sod the frigging blood magic! I don't give a fuck!" He snarled angrily. That kind of blood magic had ruined his childhood. He'd be damned if he let it rule his life anymore.

"But-"

"No buts. I've made up my mind." Raven was very firm in his beliefs, and somehow Dumbledore realized that so he relented.

"Very well then. What do you plan to do with Severus?"

"Nothing," he answered truthfully.

Severus looked at him imploringly. "Why not?" Severus asked him. Raven didn't know what Snape was playing at. Only a few hours earlier Snape had hated him, and now he was up to something he didn't quite understand. Maybe it had to do with pride and prestige, Snape was competing with Lupin over him. Or perhaps Snape saw this as his chance to make further assurances that he wouldn't end up in Azkaban, being Harry Potter's father surely had some integrity and status.

"I made it clear why not, didn't I? I don't like you, you hate me."

Snape sat on the edge of the sofa, turned to him. It was impossible to avoid eye contact.

"I don't hate you! I never did. I only disliked you because you were James's son and I liked your mother and I liked you, but I didn't want to like you because you were James's child. So I pretended to hate you and that made it so much easier for me to be around you, but now when you're mine I don't have to pretend any longer, so I won't. I want you to give me a chance and start all over," said Severus in one breath and Raven blinked. He had never ever heard Snape talk that much in such a short time before. If he didn't know any better he'd swear the man was rambling.

"No, I will not allow that Severus!" Remus protested in an upset voice. Remus usually wanted to believe there was something good in everyone, but this time he turned against Snape.

"You have no say in the matter," Severus shot back at Remus.

"Yes I do! I won't accept it! Raven's custody went to me after Sirius passed away and _I_. _WANT. HIM_!" Raven had spaced out and left the two old enemies to fight about him over his head, for each word spoken they held him tighter. Thoughts were spinning around in his head, Sirius, the Dursley's, all the recent events that provided some sort of distress. Vicious and vile visions from Voldemort... He remembered one in particular.

_Voldemort had punished Bellatrix Lestrange_. He laughed out loud at the memory but didn't notice that the fight stopped at the sound of his cold laugh. Voldemort had humiliated her, kicked her around, used her in front of everyone... and he brought her pain, intense pain. Crucio. She had screamed and screamed and screamed, until she passed out with blood dripping from her mouth. And he had felt the pain. He liked it, he enjoyed it, _craved it_, every minute of it. He hated her that much. He felt her pain…

Unaware of it he was now screaming. He began to feel the pain for real, right in that moment. Every bone and every organ was on fire. He burned from inside. He screamed louder when it felt like his organs were melting. What was happening to him?

Remus and Severus tried to talk to him and hold him but he shook too much. Somehow he had ended up on the cold stone floor. He was convulsing and felt the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He spat out a mouthful of blood on the floor but yet it came more. It dripped from his mouth as he continued to scream. By now Remus and Severus were in hysterics, Albus close after. Blade was calmer and tried to hold his head down. He tried to control the situation. Snape calmed down a little, and helped hold his convulsing body. Blade forced Raven's head up so their eyes met.

"Raven! RAVEN!" he was looking directly into Blade's dark green eyes. He was released from the memory of the torture. With a groan he relaxed his body and let himself be held by Blade.

"What happened?" Blade asked when he was sure that he was back to reality.

"Lost in memory," he croaked.

"What? How can a memory hurt him like this? Is he Okay?" Remus asked wildly. Severus hugged Raven from behind. Snape was very rarely this upset over anything, but this was his own son on the floor. His own son in pain.

Blade looked at him searchingly. "He's alright at the moment," he finally decided. "It's possible because it was a memory of a vision. It affects him in a destructive way," Blade explained. "Raven's situation is unique, because the pain Voldemort inflicts on his victims is reflected thought the scar and thus it affects Raven as well. The pain is sometimes still stored in the connection, and if Raven unconsciously concentrates on the bond between him and Voldemort, the remaining hurtful magic can be released and he'll be affected by it."

"So the pain is actually dark magic which has remained halfway through the connection?" Remus clarified and Blade nodded.

"I'll teach you occlumency," Snape whispered in Raven's ear.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me. That was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed within Hogwarts!" Snape whispered in a thick voice. He didn't mention what he had witnessed outside Hogwarts. Raven was sure Snape had seen more than any other man, since he was a death eater, and he had also been one during the time Voldemort first rose to power. _The golden era of Voldemort_, as he liked to call it in his head. It must have felt powerful to be a death eater in Voldemort's inner circle and watch as he grow more and more powerful for each day. It was another thing this time around; nothing with Voldemort was new or mighty. He was simply reconstructing what he had done the last time, and it didn't even go that well. The glory of Voldemort and the death eaters had been ruined since the last time. Raven had to admit that he was quite fascinated by how Voldemort had managed to go from Tom Riddle to Voldemort, during the first Era. Yet he now thought Voldemort had turned into something nasty and disgraceful. Nothing Voldemort could do would ever be as great like the first time.

Raven closed his eyes. He couldn't think about that now.

"How do you feel?" Blade asked.

"It hurts," he whispered. Blade nodded in sympathy and turned to Snape.

"Severus, where do you keep the potions taking care of the remaining effects Crucio and burned bones?" Blade asked.

"In the bathroom," Snape said and pointed at the general direction.

"I'll get some." Remus sat down flat on his ass on the floor and held Raven's hand while Blade was gone.

"Are you going to be alright?" he asked hesitantly and it was clear he wasn't thinking fully yet. How should Raven know ether he would be alright or not? He decided to calm them down a bit, seeing as it was needed.

"Yes. It has happened before," Raven said and coughed violently. More blood oozed out from his mouth. Severus touched it softly. He was looking at the blood strained fingers with horrified fascination. Then he looked at Raven with wide black eyes.

"You are seriously hurt Raven! We need to get you to St Mungo's!" It seemed like he just now realized how severe the situation actually was. Blood coming from the mouth was never a good sign. It usually indicated internal bleeding or an injured lung. Fear was evident in Snape's voice.

"No I'm fine," Raven tried to tell him but it didn't work that well because right after his protest he coughed up even more blood. He felt terrible.

"No you're not fine! You're my son, you're hurt and I'm not going to loose you now! You're going!" Severus sneered. That was his way on reacting to the situation. He saw those sorts of things almost everyday as a death eater but it is always different when it is your own child or family member/friend that was hurt. That's when it becomes hard to think rationally. Before Raven could say anything Remus spoke.

"I agree with Severus. An expert needs to check on you."

"Blade... tell them," he said weakly when Blade returned from the bathroom with the correct bottles in his hands. Blade looked down on him, and then glanced at the bottles in his hands. He shook his head.

"I think it would be beneficial for you to go Raven!" he said slowly and turned to the others. "Perhaps we shouldn't give him any potions now and leave it up to the hospital?" Blade asked and bit his lip. Snape nodded to him.

"Good idea. I'll carry him. We'll go by floo. The powder is in the black book on the mantel piece," Snape said and indicated his head towards the open fire. Blade opened the hollow book whistled in appreciation as Raven was lifted up off of the ground and placed in Severus's arms. Even that careful movement hurt like hell.

"Floo in a book. That's a new one!" Blade exclaimed and threw the green floo powder in the fire.

"St Mungo's hospital!" Severus yelled and stepped through. Raven closed his eyes when they began to spin around and Severus held him closer to his body.

"I'm gonna be sick!" Raven groaned and got some soot in his mouth for his efforts.

"Just hold on!" said Severus soothingly. They were thrown out from the fire. Severus landed on his feet with Raven in a firm grip. He was always so graceful, Raven thought jealously. He tried to keep his mind on simple things instead of the pain.

"We need help right now!" Snape yelled to an emergency service. There was always a service right next to the fireplaces in case of an emergency of life and death. They came immediately and laid him on a bed and began to roll away with him. The motions only made him even more nauseous. Someone ran a wand over him and checked his injuries. Remus, Blade, Severus and Albus ran beside him. Voices began to fade in and out but he heard the basics.

"What's the diagnosis?" One of the doctors asked, or so he thought. He couldn't recognize the voice.

"Serious damage on the liver, one broken arm, two broken ribs, Crucio effects, blood in his lunges, internal bleeding in the stomach..." Someone else answered.

"What's his name?" another doctor asked. Of course they didn't recognize him as Harry Potter. He looked very different now from what he had before. Everyone answered at the same time.

"Cercis Snape," said Severus.

"Harry Potter," said Remus.

"Raven Potter," said Albus.

"Raven Blood," said Blade.

"HARRY POTTER!" a nurse screamed. That name was a real catch on and people nearby stared at them with wide eyes. Many curious people strained their necks to get a better look. Snape sneered at them the best he could as they ran past doctors, visitors and patients alike so they could get to an operation table. More people were coming to their aid because Harry Potter was important. They took Raven to an emergency operation room. His company was forced to wait outside. The doors slammed shut and Raven was alone in the doctor's mercy.

"We need to stop the internal bleeding, get rid of the blood in the lunges and fix the damage of the liver, NOW! Or we'll loose him. I can't believe he is still conscious," said a doctor who also muttered a spell and Raven knew no more.

* * *


	9. Invadious

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER NINE-_**

**BETA:** Tammy

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

**NOTE:** Betas' are welcome to contact me ASAP.

* * *

A nurse went outside the operating room and informed those who waited about Raven's injuries. 

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Remus said over and over again once he heard the full extent of the injuries. It was serious and everyone knew what this indicated, even if they did not want to believe that Raven's life could indeed end any minute, the fact still remained. It was the internal bleeding that caused complications, as well as the damaged liver.

"I didn't know the damage was so extreme," said Blade calmly. Severus was staring at the wall and seemed to be in his own little world. What the others did not know was that Snape was calculating if there was any potion he could make, or even come up with, to help stop the internal bleeding. He was desperate to come up with something, and like always in such a situation he came up blank.

Raven had been on the operation table for an hour already and they hadn't heard anything else. They took it as a good sign. As long as it took time they knew Raven was still alive and fighting for his life.

"Excuse me for a minute. I need to go... I'll be back soon," Blade said suddenly. No one gave any sign of that they had even heard him.

Blade went to the apparation and floo hall and used the fireplace to floo to the USA. It was a long distance floo, but it was manageable. Usually it would cost a lot of galleons, but he had a special pass so no one bothered to stop him.

"USAWWM," he said and arrived at the ministry minutes later, it takes a longer time when you travel over the ocean. He made a fairly elegant exit out of the fire and he walked away in a confident stride. Many people who saw him nodded in greeting to him as he passed them by. A few people made an indication that they wanted to speak to him, but he shook his head warningly and continued on his way.

He finally reached his destination when he knocked on the most exclusive door in the whole Ministry.

"C'mon in!" a voice shouted from inside. The voice didn't sound as formal as most would expect.

"Hi dad!" said Blade when he stepped inside the office.

"Hello kiddo. I was expecting you," said a young looking man in a big dark brown leather armchair behind a big dark mahogany desk. The office was big and spacey with big windows. It was impressive, but the man behind the desk was harder to place. He was one of those few people who could look stern and impossible to argue with whenever required, but also friendly and approachable in the meantime.

"Raven's hurt. It's serious!" Blade blurted out and showed a hint of desperation for the first time since the incident. He was extremely relieved to be home with his dad again, once his dad was near, everything would be all right. He just knew it.

"What?" his dad said and stood up and walked over and hugged Blade quickly.

"I know," was all Blade said in a sad voice when he saw his father's stricken expression. He felt the same, Raven had come to mean a lot to him, and his father as well.

"What's the deal?" his father asked with a new burst of energy. It looked like he was ready to deal with whatever it was, and make sure it was _fixed_. His father could be very persuasive if needed. He would make sure Raven got the best doctors and experts in the areas required.

"Liver damage, blood in lungs, broken bones, internal bleedings..."

"What happened?" Scarce said as he gathered his black leather jacket.

"He was caught in a memory of a vision." Blade's father stopped in mid movement and his eyes widened.

"Oh fuck! How could he react so badly to it now when he didn't see it 'live'?" he asked and continued to do whatever needed to be done in his office before he could leave it.

"I don't know. I guess his body was tired and his magical levels low," Blade said with a shrug. He really hadn't thought much about it; he would analyze the situation later.

"Why were his levels low?"

"I don't know OK? I'm just going through different possibilities. My guess is as good as yours," said Blade and ran a finger over the golden name badge on the desk.

It said: **Scarce Invadious Black Minister of Magic USAWW**.

"Dad?" Blade asked.

"Yes?" Scarce said and looked up. He had a few papers in his hands.

"Are you coming with me to see Raven?" Blade asked. Sure, he could see his father getting ready, but he wasn't sure of he would actually go with him back to England and visit Raven, or if is father would visit a private hospital to get Raven accepted.

"Of course! You can see me moving, can't you?" he asked and rolled his eyes.

"I just thought you might be up to something else. Now c'mon. I'm afraid that this might take a while. Ask Vincent Moonstone to run the business around here, would you?"

"Yes son. Sometimes it seems like you're the Minister instead of me!" said Scarce jokingly, but underneath it all he was worried over Raven.

The two blondes, both green eyed with facial features which showed the rest of world they were very much father and son like Lucius and Draco Malfoy, strode through the Ministry and over to the floo point and went to the hospital in England together.

----------------------------------------------------

"Hi! I'm back. This is my father Invadious," said Blade when he returned. The three other men didn't recognize Invadious as Scarce, the US Minister of the wizarding world. The simple reason for that was that the security was so high in the US that only a selected few knew what the Minister _really _looked like. In public they had spokes men, just as big as Fudge (all due, they were popular), if yet only spokesmen when it came down to it. The real power lay with Scarce, and he knew how to use it well. That's the reason why Blade used his father's second name; he didn't want the word to spread, that the real Minister was in the hospital. His father's real identity would be revealed, and his private life would be non-existent. Not to mention all the attacks there might be in the future. The life as the most powerful Minister in the world was a dangerous one.

"Nice to meet you but I wish the circumstances were different," said Albus politely and shook Scarce's hand.

"Indeed. How is he doing? Any news?" Scarce asked.

"No. They're still working on him," Remus answered. Blade sat down in a chair with pink flowers on it. He didn't know why anyone would ever think that kind of chair suited a sterile hospital, but then again it was better than nothing. The purely white color made him sick. He hated white walls, it reminded him of a mental hospital and he didn't like it. The white also made him dizzy because of the lights in the ceiling, which reflected the light on the walls. It was too bright for him.

"If he doesn't make it-" Scarce began to say but was interrupted by an explosion from Snape's side.

"SHUT UP!" Severus screamed with all his might. Scarce looked at him, taken aback. He was not often screamed at even if he usually did a bit of screaming himself. He had to admit that screaming usually didn't get anywhere, but when you dealt with Blade… you had to scream in frustration every now and then. As minister he used a calm, correct and powerful voice. It made people listen to him, and he rarely raised his voice. Thus it would be more effective if he ever chose to do so. Blade knew a whole other side of his father. He saw someone young, cool and his father was also his friend.

"If he doesn't make it we'll take care of his body," Scarce said again. He spoke calmly, and ignored the fact that Snape looked ready to kill him. He knew who Snape was; he had reports of everyone around Raven.

"He is going make it and you **will not **betouching my son!" Severus hissed.

"Meet the protective father," said Blade.

"I'm aware of your beliefs Mr. Snape. I assure you that I've got the law on my side if I would ever chose to _touch_ your son. Yet that won't be necessary to talk about now since Raven _is_ going to make it." Severus seemed to calm down a bit but it didn't stop him from glaring.

"I love him very much. I know he'll make it," said Remus strongly. They had to believe it.

* * *

----------------------------------------------- 

Raven woke up four days later. His bones were healed and his internal bleeding stopped. His liver was healing and the blood in his lungs was gone. He was still sore and he needed to keep still so his internal bleeding wouldn't start again. He was told he had been lucky, and he believed in that. Right before he had passed out he believed he was going to die. It had hurt really badly, yet it didn't hurt as bad as he would have thought such injuries would. Then again he had been groggy and pretty much out of it, so he couldn't really tell. The human body had a certain way or shutting out the pain when it became too much, usually by passing out. It was a part of the human body's own defense.

Remus, Blade, Severus and Scarce were all sitting near his bed night and day. Albus was forced to return to Hogwarts to take care of the students and lessen the threat from Voldemort. If Dumbledore weren't in the castle it was more likely Voldemort would attack.

The first face Raven saw when he woke up was Scarce.

"Hi you! It's not everyday that I have the chance to see you!" he whispered. He felt content just lying there, relaxing. A big deal with that feeling was probably due to all the drugs they had pumping into his veins through the IV.

"Raven! You're awake!" said Scarce exclaimed delightfully and leaned forward.

"Yes. How long was I out this time?" He asked with a yawn. Despite all the sleeping he was still tired. It was a normal phenomenon.

"Four days."

"Not bad, not bad at all! One whole day less than the last time! I'm getting better!"

"That you are, my son."

"Have you heard from Rafael? Blade promised to-"

"No I haven't but I'm sure I will in the future. Do you see Remus and Blade here? Your father is here too!" Scarce interrupted him in a low voice. Raven turned his head slowly. Indeed, there they were.

"Oh... Hi guys, dad. I didn't see you. You look tired! Come and lay down! My bed can take two more," he said. Blade came at once and lay down.

"Remus, dad?" he asked guessingly. He wanted them well rested. He always held a big concern for others despite his own situation. Severus moved before Remus had a chance. He too lay down next to Raven.

"How are you?" Severus asked him quietly.

"I've felt worse in my days. Don't worry about me. I'll be all right in a day or two."

"No. I don't think so. Your liver is still healing and you can't move for at least a week because of your internal bleeding that needs to heal in peace," Remus explained to him.

"Pity. I'll have so much work to catch up on!"

"Don't worry about that. The most important thing and the top priority is for you to get well," said Severus. Raven sighed. He hated just lying around. He was a restless person and needed things to do all the time.

"I'm lucky it's so early in the term."

"Yes. You don't have any tests yet," said Blade as soon as he caught on Raven's trail of thought.

"Exactly," said Raven.

"You won't have any troubles in DADA at least."

"Nor will I in potions. You're good when you're trying. It's just me who puts you down," Severus confessed. Everyone knew that was hard for him to admit that.

"There are still the other subjects..." said Raven.

"There are," Severus admitted.

"Hello there young man! It's time for a check up!" A fat, black-haired nurse said in a singsong voice when she entered his own private room. She took out her wand and took away his covers "Alright Raven Snape, just relax!" she said and began her check up. She only looked at his bandages, an educated doctor would check on the injuries later. Raven cringed at the name she called him and looked questioningly over at Blade.

"We compromised," Blade whispered and wore a sheepish expression.

"Raven Snape, that just doesn't sound as good!" he groaned.

"It does fit better than Potter."

"Yes it does," he admitted. "That's why I never use an last name, they all sound bad in one way or another."

"Except for Bond," Blade said philosophic. "Bond- James Bond. Raven. Raven Bond." Raven and everyone else cringed and laughed slightly at Blade's antics.

* * *


	10. Remus's love problem

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER TEN- **_

**BETA:** Tammy

**INFO:** www. users/ draycious

* * *

"Harry... May I come in?" Raven looked up at the sound of the voice. He frowned when he saw who it was. Ron was standing in the door, looking nervous.

"Hello Weasley. Yes you may," he said with a slight chill in his voice.

_For the moment_, he added silently. He was alone with Ron in the room. Remus was away, fetching some orange juice for him. He knew that he had two order members guarding his room night and day in invincibility cloaks and two official ministry workers from the auror department, but those guards stood outside the room.

"Sit down," he said to Ron and pointed to a chair. Ron sat down gingerly and an awkward silence broke out. Raven didn't say anything because he knew that Ron liked to just blurt out whatever it was on his mind when the silence became too tense.

"I'm sorry!" Ron blurted after a while.

_And one point to Raven-Blood-Snape-Potter... AH! WHATEVER MY FUCKING NAME IS! _He thought.

"For what?" he asked sweetly.

"For believing you were a Death Eater and shouting at you...and what Malfoy said is **not** true!" he finished defiantly.

"Alright."

"Why were you hanging out with Malfoy in the first place?" Ron asked suspiciously and his ears began to redden.

"I met him on the train, you know."

"Why did you talk to him? He is your enemy, _our_ enemy!" Ron was getting worked up but Raven didn't care about that. Raven had done some serious thinking over the summer and realized that Ron and he were no longer on the same level. They were two very different people, and when it came down to it they didn't have very much in common. Ron failed to understand that Raven had to grow up and spend time with schoolwork and lessons instead of fooling around.

"Don't get yourself worked up. I'm not exactly friends with him. We just talked," he said lightly and it was the truth. He hosted no warmer feelings for Malfoy, but he realized that maybe he was wrong in the assumption that Draco was just like Lucius.

"About what?" Ron demanded to know.

"Not because it's any of your business _Ron_ but we talked about his father," he said annoyed. He couldn't believe Ron thought he had the right to know everything about him. He looked at his old gangly friend and saw a child, a teenager not ready to either take responsibility for his actions or listen to reason. Therefore Raven wouldn't bother trying to make Ron face the reality.

"What did he say?" Ron asked him interested and leaned forward. Raven shrugged and drew circles with his fingers on the top of his covers.

"Nothing much. Let's just say I did most of the talking and he confirmed."

"Oh...alright." It seemed like Ron understood he would say no more about it, his tone had been final and matter-of-factly. "Where were you this summer?"

"Sorry, can't tell you."

"Why not? We're best friends!"

"I just can't alright? Listen, I'm tired and I'm going to get some sleep. We'll talk later." He knew that was weak of him to take the easiest way out, but he wasn't healthy enough to deal with Ron right now. Nor was he up for explaining to Ron that he thought they would both be much better off as acquaintances, and not best friends.

"Alright, later," said Ron and left.

"I saw Ron storm out. Is anything the matter?" Remus asked when he entered only seconds after Ron left.

"Hi Remus. No, nothing's wrong. Ron was just a bit upset over the fact I talked to Malfoy."

"I see. He's got quite a temper, that one," said Remus with humor. Raven didn't think it was just as funny, but he gave Remus a weak smile anyway. Remus wore dark brown robes today. They made his eyes stand out more than usual. Remus had amber colored friendly eyes. They were lovely. He had never thought about it before.

"You're quite handsome you know. How come you ain't got a girl?" Raven asked with his head tilted on the side. Remus frowned when he thought of how to answer.

"In school I had one girlfriend here, another one there. You know how it is in that age, nothing is every serious, you just think it is. When I was older, during the time your mother and fa-James married I had a more serious relationship. But when Lily and James were murdered, and as I thought at the time, Peter, by my other best friend I just fell apart. All my walls crumpled. I began to drink and I didn't care of anything," Remus said in a pained voice. It was clear to Raven that Remus hadn't talked about this in a long time. He appreciated Remus' honesty with him. He could have just avoided the question, but he didn't. Perhaps Remus had in mind what he had said about not knowing him. Remus continued and Raven listened with rapt attention. "I scared away my girlfriend because I let my werewolf temper flare up too often. Since then the years passed and it came out that I was a werewolf and no one dared to be involved with me. So I just get some one night stands because I can't get anything more when they find out..." Remus said sadly. Raven was watching him thoughtfully.

"What about men Remus?" he asked carefully. He wasn't sure what Remus thought about homosexuality.

"Men... I've been with them too. I'm bisexual, thanks to my wolf friend. He likes males. It sort of rubs on to me," Remus said with an embarrassed grin.

"What about Malfoy, do you think he's hot?"

"Malfoy? He's in your grade!" Remus cried out in shock at the unexpected question.

"I meant the older Malfoy, Lucius, of course," he grinned.

"Ha! As if that's any better! He's evil!" Remus replied dryly.

"Let's overlook his personality for a while. How do you like his looks?"

"Well... I suppose it's OK. Very much OK actually. But he'd look better in short hair."

"Alright. Let's pretend he is nothing like we thought him to be. Let's say that he is funny, kind, generous, well mannered and gentle?"

"Sounds too good to be true, which it **is** by the way. This is all very far fetched, don't you think?" Remus asked with a small laugh.

"Maybe," said Raven with a secret little smile. He knew something Remus didn't…

* * *


	11. How to go there

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER ELEVEN-**_

**BETA: **Tammy

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

* * *

"I'm finally getting out of here! Hell, it feels good!" said Raven with a relieved laugh and tossed a newspaper at Blade. They were leaving the hospital. Raven was free to go if he took it easy for a couple of weeks. No running and no quidditch what so ever was allowed. He could live with that, he would probably agree to anything just to get out of there. He was supposed to sit as much as possible and drink a lot of water for some reason. He wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than a pillow so Blade would be the man for the job.

"Ready to face your school duties?" Raven groaned. Why did Blade have to remind him of that right this minute? Couldn't he be allowed to feel some happiness without being interrupted? He made a grimace and answered.

"No but I'll have to do it I suppose?" he asked Blade and showed his resentment over the fact.

"That's right!" Blade said in a voice much far too bright for Raven's liking. If he didn't know any better he'd say Blade was a real sadist.

"You know what? I think I'll stay here after all..." he joked.

"Oh no you don't! Get your ass in that fire!" Blade shouted playfully and pushed him gently over towards it. Raven had to smile as well when he thought of how that comment would have confused a muggle. Blade helped him to travel through the fire, and made sure he didn't injure himself any further by slamming against the fireplaces' walls.

* * *

Two days later and Raven was called to Blade's office in Hogwarts. The days had passed quickly, and he could hardly separate one day from another.

"Hi there stranger! Are you ready to go and visit Rafael?" Blade asked once he entered. They hadn't been able to see much of each other, since Blade had begun his teaching and Raven was busy otherwise.

"And Master?" Raven asked hopefully.

"Maybe he'll be there. I would not know about that. Master tends to do whatever pleases him for the moment," Blade said dryly but you could hear the admiration for master in his voice.

"Great," Raven said enthusiastically for the prospect to get out of Hogwarts and visit some of his favorite persons on the planet. "I'm ready to go whenever you are. How are we supposed to pull it off without anyone noticing? I've got Severus breathing down my neck and Remus acts like a blood dog, sniffing my traces," he said aggravated. He hadn't had one peaceful moment since his little memory relapse. "I can't believe Snape accepted Remus as his assistant in potions just so they can both keep their eyes on me!" said Raven incredulously and threw himself down in the chair in front of Blade's desk.

"Fatherly love, you know. When I was younger my father always had a bodyguard for me. I was never allowed to be alone, even less go to a party on my own. The bodyguard was irritating like an ass sniffing dog!" Blade exclaimed. He still looked angry when he thought about it, even if it had happened years previously.

"That's different!" Raven said and waved his hand dismissively. "You're the son of the USWW Minister! Of course you had a bodyguard," he said. When you really sat back and thought about it, it wasn't strange at all.

"Alright... but you're the boy-who-lived... Anyway, I thought we'd tell them I am taking you to a check up at the hospital, right? From there we can apparate to our place in Transylvania," Blade said, getting tired of always arguing about things.

"Great plan, only, it sounds too easy," said Raven thoughtfully. When Blade put it the way he did it sounded like they had forgotten something important.

"It's often the easiest plans which are the best," Blade reminded him in a gentle voice.

"Fine! But they'll notice we won't return tonight you know... how do you explain that to them?" he asked, he thought he was onto something. Blade tilted his head.

"We'll leave a note."

"Oh yes indeed! Let's write that we tricked them but we'll be fine and please don't punish us when we return!" Raven cried sarcastically. What happened to Blade the whining one? Now he was suddenly acting like a responsible adult, something Raven knew Blade would never truly be. Well ok, maybe he was responsible when needed, but not in a boring _I'm holier than you_ way.

"C'mon! Does it really matter? Think about it. We'll get to spend time in Transylvania," Blade said to him and took off his robes. Underneath it he wore simple but stylish dark blue jeans and a black sweater. "Just relax and let me take care of everything. You know you should rest since your magical levels are still low."

"I'll let you take care of everything just this once. God knows I have a million things to study. No one can beat me in defense and DADA and DA but I can hardly levitate a fucking pillow, not to mention transfigure a feather to a hen!" said Raven annoyed.

"Stop being an asshole! I admit that you suck in most subjects accept for DADA and maybe Potions but all you need is practice!" Blade said sternly. It was his way of encouraging Raven.

"That might be true but I need to work on transfiguration. As it is, I'm in the bloody bottom of my class!"

"I'll help you. But the most important thing is DADA and you're already better than most grown wizards in it!"

"But still-"Raven was interrupted by Blade.

"Still nothing! Don't you see? You don't _need _the other shit! If you do standard- good! If you're below that, that's fine! Just concentrate on DADA and the dark arts!" Raven sighed and nodded. Blade was right of course. He didn't know why he felt like he had to argue. He already had a future; he didn't even need his OWLs. Knowing the USAWW minister had its perks. He could basically do anything he wanted. He also had all the money in the world, he could never work a single day and spend as much money as he possible could, and it would still be more than enough left for several generations to come. He knew all this, but he wasn't the kind of person who walked around and did nothing, he needed to have something to do and he wanted to work.

"Alright," he said and gave up. This conversation would get them nowhere and it was already too drawn out. "So are we leaving tomorrow then or when?" he asked with a sigh.

"Tomorrow it is. I was thinking that maybe we could visit Lucius at Malfoy manor after we've met Rafael?"

"Sounds good," said Raven and picked up a book from Blade's desk and flipped through the pages. He found it very appealing. "Where did you get this book?" he asked interested.

"It seems like every dark arts book catches your interest. Should I be worried for another Dark Lord?" Blade asked and grinned at his own joke. Raven rolled his yes and decided to play along. He narrowed his green eyes and said:

"Not unless you displease me. You know I'd let you get away from punishing most of the time. But seriously, where did you get it?"

"Rafael borrowed it from Master and I borrowed it from Rafael."

"I knew this wasn't yours!" he exclaimed knowingly. " It's far too good because your taste in books suck! Look, here's a page about an old ritual to bring the old demon Raducult to our physical plane, our dimension!" he said in an intrigued voice.

"Um... I haven't studied demons for quite some time. Who is he, now again?" Blade asked and tried to look in the book but Raven removed it from his view. He didn't want Blade's fingers to taint the book!

"He's the pain demon. Quite decent I believe," he said distracted as he read through the paragraph in the book.

"Decent? Yeah right!" Blade murmured disbelievingly. He sat down on top of his desk and waited for Raven to explain himself. He wasn't disappointed.

"He is! He's cool. I've met him. If I wasn't dreaming Master let me have a training session with Raducult. He was very nice, nothing like I pictured him to be."

"Nice? I'm sorry but I find that hard to believe. He's a sodding pain demon for God's sake!" said Blade with dismay. Nice wasn't usually synonyms with pain.

"That's what I first though," raven admitted. "I was mistaken, he was nothing like I first pictured him to be. You should see for yourself. I think we should make an attempt at this ritual. It's fairly simple so I think we'll manage. I'd like to meet him again and perhaps you'd enjoy his company as well. He's very clever and very old, even if he looks young."

"What _does _he look like?" Blade asked curiously. Most demons he had met were ghastly to look at, and they smelled pretty bad.

"In his demon form I guess that he looks like this picture of him, reddish skin with fangs and black eyes, but in his human form his skin moon-white with midnight black eyes like my dad, and he's got brown hair. I don't know if he always looks the same in his human form or if he can change from time to time, all due I find it hard to imagine he'd change looks often. He didn't seem to be the typical vain type." Raven showed Blade the picture of the demon in the book. It was a drawn picture of course, not many could play necromancers or call on demons from other worlds. Most people didn't even know such worlds existed. People thought it was myths and fairy tales, even the wizards didn't always believe in other worlds.

"You really do seem to like this demon!" said Blade with surprise.

"That I do," he said and read through the page carefully once more. You could always miss something the first time.

"Um, perhaps you should wait to do the ritual." Raven looked up sharply. He new something was up, something Blade would rather not talk about. He could hear it in Blade's voice.

"Why?" he asked him dangerously. Blade sighed and stood up. He placed a hand on Raven's shoulder.

"Look, a ritual is a piece of serious and _difficult_ magic. A great deal of power is required to perform it."

"So? I've been doing those kinds of rituals before. It's a piece of cake. I don't find it difficult for me in any kind of way. I've got more than enough of the magic that's required for this task," Raven interrupted what he presumed would become a long speech.

"I'm aware of that!" said Blade with a slight frown. "But what concerns me is what happened during your flash back, when you reviewed Voldemort's vision. Your magical levels _must_ have been low; I can't explain what happened in any other ways. For as far as I am concerned you had done nothing that should have drained your magic in the way that it did. Until we can figure out why that happened in the first place I think you should wait to do anything big with your magic. If we don't wait it might happen again and you're under a great threat every time you can't defend yourself. It leaves you vulnerable for enemies to strike and you can do nothing about it. Voldemort could regain free access to your mind if your shields should fail. Even before I taught you occlumency your magic had its own kind of shields, even if it was an unconscious act on your side, but you know that already. Let's just wait a while, that's all I'm saying," Blade's voice was final and Raven found himself agreeing to what he had said. It wasn't worth it, and the ritual would only be performed for his amusement so it held no real purpose. Raven burrowed his face in his hands and sighed.

"Ok. Let me think... I only used magic to bring me some chairs that day. That action couldn't have drained me in any way. I hadn't been sick. I hadn't trained mind defense. I wasn't tired at all. I ate nothing unknown; I drank nothing unknown... Wait! I've got it!" Raven said with a new light after the reservation hit him.

"What?" Blade asked quickly.

"The truth potion! It was a new form so I could talk normally with emotions and I could move even if I had to tell the truth..."

"Do you think you're allergic to it? Because you've been under truth potions before without any complications," Blade said skeptically. Raven shrugged, it didn't sound far fetched to him. It was in fact quite likely something had happened with his magic when he drank the potion. It was the only explanation he could provide. The potion was the only foreign object he had been in contact with that day.

"I don't know. Maybe Fudge had something to do with it, to get even for the doors in the Ministry." Blade looked at him in disbelief. "Give me another possibility then," he said sourly when he noticed Blade's expression.  
Now it was Blade's time to shrug. "I don't have a better one yet. I' will do some research and then I will let you know what I come up with," he said.

"Fine. I have to go anyway. I've got physical defense with Mr. Evil!"

"Don't call him that! Call him Professor Meller like you're supposed to do! If you don't you only make it harder for yourself to remember not to call him that to his face, so what's the point?" Blade asked him logically.

"I swear this Meller has it in for me! The idiot has already tried to deduct points from me just because I happen to breathe!" he whined.

"Be careful around him. I do not know who he is yet. I expect to find out this afternoon," Blade warned him.

"Dumbledore wouldn't hire anyone who could be a danger to me, would he?" Raven asked.

"Don't fool yourself Raven. I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. Just look back in your past."

"But this year-" he began to say but was interrupted.

"Isn't any different from the others," Blade finished.

"Fine! I'm seriously pissed over having to watch out for teachers with Voldemort shoved up their ass or wherever he's hiding!" said Raven sourly and Blade laughed at that description. Voldemort certainly was a parasite.

"Just keep your eyes open. You know where to find me if you need to talk. You can always summon me for help..." Blade said when Raven was on his way to the door.

"No, that's OK. I can handle it. I'll see you later today."

"Bye then. Try to keep your temper in check," Blade shouted after him.

"I'll try," said Raven and left Blade's office.

* * *


	12. Master

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* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER TWELVE-**_

**BETA: **Greeneyes

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

* * *

After he let Blade's office he had a couple of minutes to get down to the second floor to get to his physical defense class. It was a new subject for the year due to the threat of Voldemort looming over them like an enormous ominous shadow. The main purpose with the class was that they would learn to fight with martial arts instead of magic. Basically Raven translated it as 'kick and punch' class. Raven could already do such things but Blade insisted he'd take the class never the less. He pretended he couldn't fight at all, since he wasn't supposed to be able to defend himself. No one knew what he had been up to during the summer and he intended to keep it that way.

The class was of course related to DADA but since they had made the DADA class a couple of hours longer every week, Blade didn't have the time to teach both subjects. That's why Dumbledore had hired yet another new teacher. In fact, the whole staff was bigger then ever this year. Aurors were constantly guarding the castle, outside as well as inside. Almost every subject had two teachers just so that everyone could get more help than they normally would. The students could really feel the war now, compared to the previous year when everyone was denying Voldemorts resurrection.

Raven was quite thankful for the increased number of teachers since he wasn't very good in some subjects. He had the mind for his studies, he just didn't have the right amount of concentration in him since he always had to run about and stop Voldemort from doing harm.

"Harry, you've been daydreaming all day! Please concentrate!" Hermione begged him when he got smacked in the face by her fist in the martial art class.

"Ow! Hermione!" he said and held his nose, which was now bleeding. Blade had barely allowed him to participate in the class since his injuries were still healing, but Raven had been persistent. He didn't want to take extra lessons in martial arts, and he was sure the new Professor would assign extra lessons to him if he was absent.

"Is scarhead going to cry?" Malfoy said in a mocking voice. Draco was teamed up with Ron to the horror of everyone because they would likely kill each other some day.

"Do me a favor and shut up!" Raven snarled. Draco sighed and went over to him.

"Come here, let me see that!" he said roughly but he was surprisingly gentle when he pried Raven's hands off his nose. Draco picked up his wand and gently tapped it against Raven's nose. The pain disappeared and so did the blood.

"There you go, as good as new!" he said.

"Thank you Draco," Raven said gratefully. He really meant it. He was surprised Hermione hadn't helped him at once.

"No problem. After all, I'm a nice guy." Draco said cheekily. Ron snorted. Raven and Draco ignored his childish antics.

"Wanna team with me? Before I get knocked out by Hermione?" asked Raven and Hermione blushed.

"That or Mr. Evil, as you call him, is going to do you in real good. He's looking at you. We better get to work." Draco said and took his arm and led him away from Ron and Hermione. They both ignored the weird looks they got from their classmates. The rest of the lesson continued. No incident happened to either Raven or Draco. However, Ron and Hermione were another story.

----------------------------------------------

"Raven, may I have a word with you?" Raven was startled at the unexpected voice coming from behind him. He turned slightly.

"Uh... sure thing dad. What's up?"

"Let's talk about that in my chambers," said Severus and glared at the Gryffindor's nearest at the Gryffindor table. Hogwarts was in the middle of dinner. Raven got up silently and followed his father down to the dungeons. In Snape's chambers he sat down in the sofa which was visible for once. He couldn't see Remus anywhere but he suspected Remus was the one to keep the place clean.

"Dad…," he said and basically forced the word 'dad' out of his mouth even if no one could hear it in his voice or see it in his features. He was still not comfortable enough to use that title to a man he hadn't liked it very much before he found out the truth. "Where's Remus?" he continued when Snape looked at him.

"I don't know. He's probably on his way to dinner. Remus is not the one we're here do talk about." Raven waited silently. He had no idea what was going trough Snape's mind at the moment. It was always impossible to tell.

"I spoke to Blade about an hour ago. He told me the two of you are going on a check up tomorrow. Why didn't you tell me?" Snape asked seriously.

"I...err... Blade was supposed to tell you that, and he did," he lied quickly. It didn't seem like Snape could detect his lie.

"Why are you going with _him_?"

"He is my guardian." He frowned. "Well, sort of." he added.

"And I am your _father_! **I **am the one who's supposed to go you and you didn't even ask me if I wanted to!" Snape exploded. Frustration was written all over him and Raven shrank back into the sofa. _He's hurt I didn't ask him to come with me_, Raven thought.

"I'm sorry dad but it's Blade who decides," he said and blamed it all on Blade. Perhaps it was a weak thing to do but at the moment he didn't care. Why give Snape any more reasons to yell at him?

"I'm going with you anyhow and I'm going to have a talk with Blade," Severus spoke angrily. Raven's eyes widened and he thought quickly to prevent that from happening without sounding suspicious.

"Dad, please stay home. It's not worth it to go up against the U.S. Ministry. Just don't start a fight. You'll know my results from the hospital. Perhaps you can go with me in the future but not right now."

"There's got to be something that I can do to stop U.S.A. WWM from interfering with our lives. I'll go and speak to Remus about it. We can probably find something in the law for our benefit. You may go tomorrow but note that I want a full length report about it." Snape said and looked him in the eye to show he meant it.

"Yes dad."

"I'll see you tomorrow. Stay here if you want," he said and slammed the door. Raven stayed seated for a few minutes before he walked quickly out of the chambers. He had to find Blade. He was probably in his chambers.

"Raven! What are you doing here?" said a surprised Blade when Raven stormed in. Then Raven proceeded to tell Blade everything that his dad had said.

"Not good," Blade said to himself. Then he looked up. "It doesn't matter. They can research every paragraph existing in both muggle and wizarding law. We've already made sure there is nothing that can stop us."

"So we've got everything covered?"

"Indeed, and no mistakes or overlooked wormholes or something close to that," Blade told him. Then he got a slightly mischievous look on his face. "But we won't tell _them _that. Let Snape and Lupin find that out for themselves. It's good if they're preoccupied with research, it puts their mind off things."

"Such as every time we disappear!" Raven exclaimed. "God that's clever!" he smiled.

"Yes it is," Blade admitted. He looked pretty pleased with himself, even if he wasn't the one who had done all the good work, yet he overlooked that little fact. They worked for him, didn't they?

"I'm going to bed now. I'll see you in the morning," Raven said with a yawn. Blade nodded at him.

"Good night Raven."

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Raven waltzed out of the hospital the next morning with Blade in tow. The doctors had said he was healing in a remarkable speed and that he'd be back in business in another three weeks if he continued to heal in the way that he did now.

"Are you ready to apparate?" Blade asked him.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he said and they disappeared. He didn't particularly like traveling in magical ways.

They ended up in the middle of a dark forest. They had to walk 10 minutes to reach the main gates. It usually only took them five minutes but they walked slowly so raven's injured ribs wouldn't act up. They passed a few magical wards on their way. They couldn't see them but they felt them. There was an extreme and almost impossible powerful force behind the wards. It was impressive work, and Raven was sure Bill Weasley would find it interesting. They continued walking until a big castle emerged in front of their eyes. It was huge, had high towers and was beautiful. Yet it wasn't an ordinary castle, it wasn't light nor made of grey stone. It was black.

"Finally home. At last!" Raven burst out. An increasing feeling of happiness filled him. When he first saw Hogwarts he has thought that was his home, but he had been mistaken back then. He belonged to another castle, the one in front of him. Blade nodded and agreed that this was their home. They walked into the entrance hall and then they met another entity.

"You bloody idiot! Why do you always have to be such a sick fuck?" a man screamed.

"Me? You were the one who drained her!" the other man screamed back.

"Because you started it!" Blade and Raven stopped on a distance and watched them have a verbal fight, which they had no difficulty hearing what so ever. They exchanged amused looks.

"Welcome home," said a man's voice behind them and they jumped. They hadn't heard anyone coming.

"Rafael!" said Blade and hugged him tightly. Raven hugged him too but more loosely.

"What are they fighting about this time?" Raven asked and nodded towards the two men further away from them.

"Midnight and Fire? It's has something to do with draining a muggle, I think. They were in Moscow before sunrise." Rafael said and rolled his eyes. The fights between Midnight and Fire were legendary in the castle, and the pair of them were notorious because of their fighting.

"Nothing unusual then. God, you vampires, you're always doing something stupid!" Raven said and laughed. Rafael glared at him for that remark ignored it otherwise and led them to their rooms. They didn't interrupt Midnight and Fire; they were better off leaving them alone.

"Where's master?" Raven asked and looked around as if he expected their Master to jump out in front of them any second.

"Out running his business," Rafael said after he had placed Blade in the room he usually stayed in. Rafael must have noticed Raven's crestfallen look because he gave him a rare smile.

"He'll be back in time for dinner," he said comfortingly.

"Good. I wish to speak to him," Raven said suddenly feeling considerably happier.

"I suppose he's eager to see you as well."

"I Hope so..." Raven murmured while he entered the room he usually stayed in. He immediately walked over to the wardrobe and hunted through it for more suitable clothes to put on. The wardrobe always provided the user with a suitable outfit for the proper occasion. It was a magical wardrobe, special and disgustingly expensive.

"I'll leave you to your business. Make sure to attend dinner at six o'clock and go to lunch at one o'clock if you wish."

"Thanks Rafael."

"No problem young Raven," Rafael said softly and with a little bow he left the room quietly.

Raven looked at the clock and decided that he had time enough to take a bath in the rich, exclusive and expensive bathroom. It was very luxurious with a big tub; everything was made in marble and gold. The walls were dark-blue with green plants and there were different kinds of functions on the tub. Bubble bath was one of the many options. It was cozy in the bathroom; it provided an intimate feeling without making the room feel too small.

That sort of thing was hard to manage. He loved the whole atmosphere in the castle. It may be dark and almost gloomy, but it wasn't scary or neglected. Everything was in top shape and the atmosphere was warm and comforting for the mind. He loved it.

---------------------

After the bath he wrapped himself in a big, black and fluffy towel which covered all of his body. After that done he sat down in a chair and wrote a letter to his father.

_Dear Severus, _

I'm visiting Master together with Blade. I trust you to keep that piece of information to yourself.

_I went to the doctors and they said I'll be fine if I continue to heal like I do now. They also said I shouldn't worry about anything, but I'm still grounded from Quidditch and lifting things. I just want you to know that I'm fine. Say hi to Remus for me. _

Love,

Cercis (Raven)

Happy with his constellation he sealed the parchment with a special crest made for the castle. He sent the letter off with a black eagle that also belonged to the fortress. He got up on his feet and went over to his wardrobe. Since it was only lunch he settled for some clothes from Dolce and Gabbana with shoes from Gucci and a scent from Boss. He also put on a necklace from Prada, specially made. He just loved this place! Nothing was cut in on, everything was luxurious and yet no one bragged about it. After living with the Dursley's for all these years it was almost hard for him to comprehend what he got. Well, you can imagine.

-----------------------------------

"Wow Raven! You look good!"

"Thanks Blade," said Raven when he sat down at the lunch table. Blade had chosen pants from Zansez and a T-shirt with a dragon on from Unique.

"I can hear that you're not fighting anymore," said Raven to Midnight and Fire who sat near him.

"So what have you been up to?" Midnight asked him after he had nodded to the previous comment.

"Just some minor operations and such," he answered. Midnight's black and blue eyes stared at him.

"No way man! Operation? What happened?!" asked Fire. He too with his orange, yellow and red eyes wide open.

"I wouldn't look so excited if I were you. It was nothing special, there are no juicy details," said Raven but told them his tale never the less. Blade decided to add a few comments to spice things up.

"You know, he was drugged during the operation, right?" said Blade after Raven's story was told.

"Yeah. So?" Rafael asked.

"We were allowed to sit in the waiting room to wait for him to wake up. When he woke up but he wasn't aware of his surroundings since he was drugged. He woke up earlier than expected. I don't even think he remembers anything about that…" Blade said and looked at Raven who shook his head, confused. He had no idea where this was going. "Anyway, there was this pretty nurse, Ana- something. She asked him if he believed in love at first sight. Guess what he answered!"

"No idea," shrugged Midnight.

"No clue," said Fire. Both Raven and Rafael shook their head in negative. When Blade grinned Raven suspected he had said something impossible sappy.

"Oh c'mon man! You're killing me!" Fire urged and sat on the edge of his seat. He was easily excited over something, and he never did anything half way. If he was happy he was 100 percent happy, if he was depressed he was 100 percent depressed and so on. He was very intense with his emotions, and very temperamental. If you didn't know how to handle Fire you might think he was a bit too much, but when you told him a story he was the ideal listener, he was a real good audience.

"Ok then. He said: 'Love at first sight may be all right, but it might be wise to take a second look'." Everyone laughed albeit Raven was laughing a little bit out of relief. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to live it down if he had said something embarrassing.

"No way! You just made that up! I'd never say that!" Raven laughed.

"But you did," Blade said and stuck his tongue out.

"Now that's rich," said Midnight. "I wonder where you got it from."

"I agree, it is rich" said Rafael before he drank some coke from his glass. Vampires could eat just about anything if they wanted to, but they had to drink blood to survive in the long run. Blood was also preferred above anything else.

"Say, where's Ancius?" Raven asked.

"Ancius? That's what I'd like to know!" Rafael growled. It was known that Rafael found it impossible to keep tabs on his brother Ancius.

"I think he's out chasing females again," Blade informed them.

"Oh really? It won't surprise me if he is. He's impossible! I hope Master gives him a word or two."

"Isn't that awfully harsh?" Fire asked as if he had experience in one of Master's 'talks'. Come to think of it he probably did.

"Oh yeah? It would sure help!" Rafael argued.

"For a week," Midnight murmured and Rafael glared at him.

Raven enjoyed their bickering. It was other than the usual boring ones Hermione and Ron would provide. Those guys were fun. Yet again it proved that vampires were funny yet dangerous. Not dangerous to him mind you. Why were they no danger to him? Because he was one of them.

-------------------------------

Before dinner he dressed up in a black outfit. He was happy but nervous at the same time at the prospect of meeting Master. He knew his emotions were running rampant and just playing with him. He had nothing to fear because Master would never hurt him.

"You look good tonight. Like always," Rafael said to him when he sat down at the table. The only light source in the hall came from the many crown chandeliers with candles hanging down from the roof. It was half dark, the lights were pretty dim and cast a feint yellow light in the room. Big shadows were playing on the walls as the candles fought to survive the wind seeping through he window cracks.

"Thank you," he smiled and smoothed his pants nervously.

"Nervous?" Midnight asked him at once. He nodded slightly. He saw no point in denying it.

They were sitting in a hall bigger than the Great hall in Hogwarts at a table, the head table, above every other one. There were a lot of tables in the hall so sitting at the main one was a real privilege. Raven couldn't even count all of the tables, there were too many of them. Every occupant of the tables had their eyes up on them. He fidgeted slightly in his chair.

By all means, he knew most of them, but it was still a bit unnerving to know that he was one of the weakest in the room.

Why?

_Because he was human.  
_

"He's coming. Can you feel his presence?" Midnight whispered to him.

"Yeah," Raven said shortly. He was kind of tense and didn't really want to talk at the moment. The Master entered with a big bang coming from the front doors. Tall and broad, he paused in the door for a moment. The light illuminated through from behind him, and it created an impressive illusion of the Master being impossible tall and powerful.

He looked surprised when he spotted Raven at the head table. The hall was silent while Master walked over to his high chair which was located in the middle of the table.

When he was seated he looked to his right and nodded to Rafael, then he continued to nod at the next one seated beside Rafael which was Fire and next after that, Blade.

After he was done greeting the right side of the table he nodded to Raven on his left, one step more sat Midnight and after that he nodded to Ancius who had arrived while Raven was up changing in his room.

It was still deadly silent in the room after the greeting ceremonies were over. Everyone waited for the Master to speak. He put his fingertips together just like Rafael had done earlier. The Master's long black robes had silver linings and his cape was a dark blood-red with velvet on the inside. Raven was very impressed by his look.

"Welcome Raven and Blade. I didn't expect you yet but I'm of course glad you could join us." the Master spoke.

Everyone knew that wasn't all he had to say. Raven lowered his gaze and bowed his head slightly in thanks and respect to the Master. Raven knew that Blade did the same without even having to look. It was an unwritten rule for visitors to do such a thing to their host in the upper class in the wizarding world.

"I can see everyone is here tonight, even our dear Ancius found his way to us... _interesting_." he said and the hall exchanged amused glances with each other when Ancious looked sheepishly at the Master. Everyone listened with rapt attention as their Master continued his speech. "Well, I can only raise my glass to you and yet again wish our guests welcome!"

The Master held his glass high up in the air. It was a crystal glass and its blood red liquid was reflecting the glass when the light from the candlelight's hit it. It was enticing to see it, and Raven almost wished he could drink from the glass even if he knew it was real blood in it.

"Welcome!" Master said to Raven and Blade.

"Welcome!" everyone in the hall repeated. Raven and Blade drank their share. They were the only ones who drank red wine. Everyone one else drank blood. That fact didn't bother them the slightest.

"It's good to have you here Raven," said Master to them when the hall had turned their attention towards their food and drinks.

"I would like to personally thank you for letting us come and stay here, Count Dracula," Raven responded formally.

* * *


	13. Life

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER THIRTEEN-_**

**BETA:** Greeneyes

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious

**OTHER:** http:// www. fanfiction. net/s/3040483/1/

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Raven woke up thoroughly relaxed the next morning. It had been a good night. The dinner had passed with many stories and a lot of laugher, the food had been great and the whole evening had felt magical in a non-physical kind of way. He loved being home, and sharing time and feelings with his family. Just when he thought he couldn't love them more, he was proven wrong and his love for his family increased. He wished it could always be like this, yet he knew it was impossible. At the same time he didn't want it to always be like that, because if it was the uniqueness of everything would disappear.

He stretched before he jumped out of the bed. He took his leisure time to wake up properly, and because of that he had to take a quick shower before dressing. He had to be down in the breakfast hall on time.

-------------------------------------

"Hi Dracula. Where's Blade?" he asked when he plopped down in his chair. Formalities were only used the first few lines in the opening conversation out of respect, but since those ceremonies had taken place yesterday they were on a friendly and relaxed level today.

"I believe he drank himself under the table together with Fire so to speak," Dracula said dryly but Raven could tell he was amused by their behavior. He supposed he had missed that yesterday; he hadn't always stayed close to Blade. He had been too preoccupied with catching up with other people down at another table.

"They'll still be asleep then," he stated knowingly. People might not believe it but he knew very well how it felt to wake up with a massive hangover.

"How's your father?"

"Pissed at me I think. We left without telling him but I wrote him a letter once we got here. I don't think that will help the verbal lashing I am likely to receive once I get back to school."

"You could always use a silencing charm. But I can see that there is something else troubling you," Dracula said slowly. _Trust Master to see everything_, Raven thought.

"There _is_ one thing," he said tentatively, almost meekly. He wasn't sure how to put this.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Maybe. You see, I was horribly injured recently..." Raven told him about what had happened when he had the vision (memory of it) from Voldemort. "So you see... I think the truth potion caused my error in magical defense..."

"And you want me to help you find the truth?" Dracula said smartly, when Raven looked unsure of what that would ensure, Dracula elaborated. "To find out if it really was the potion which caused it?"

"Well...yeah," said Raven and suddenly finding the table very interesting. He didn't like asking people for help. He could deal with most things himself, even this matter, but he would find out much quicker without any unnecessary problems if Dracula helped him.

"Of course I'll help you Raven, but I must ask if you have anything against finishing breakfast first?" asked Dracula calmly but with humor.

"Well of course not! This will be done on your terms! When ever you want is fine!" Raven hurried to say. Dracula took his anxiousness in a stride.

"After breakfast it is. You can join me in my chambers," he decided.

"Thank you. You're most generous Master!"

"Think nothing of it."

--------------------------------

After breakfast Dracula did a complete analysis of him. Dracula was a very powerful vampire because he was one of the firsts. Vampires, despite the myths, could walk in daylight. They didn't sleep in coffins either; Raven had seen that for himself. He did note that they all slept in big beds though, quite the opposite from small coffins, one could assume. Vampiric magic was very different from wizards. Vampires, for one thing, didn't need a wand. Mind magic was a one of a vampire's specialties. They could easily look into other people's minds and their pasts, without much effort. In order to analyze Raven's problem Dracula had too look in the past. After 20 minutes Dracula had all answers to the mystery.

"Was it the potion?" Raven asked at once. He assumed it would be.

"Indeed it was"

"Was I allergic to it?" Raven asked.

"No. Quite the opposite. Your body would respond quite nicely to it unless you were given a too big a dose of it of course," Dracula said innocently, but he managed to look grim at the same time. Dracula had a dark sense humor; he could find something funny in the most serious of situations. He often found things ironic in one way or another.

Raven blinked. "Come again?"

"I see you caught on. _Yes_," Dracula said hissing the word out slowly. He took a deep breath as if he was seeking pleasure in the mere air. He was probably just satisfied with the fact that he had found the cause. "The reason to your unusual reaction was that you were given too big a dose."

"But it was perfectly normal! I saw the dose they gave me!" Raven protested.

"It was the normal dosage for the _Veritaserum_ but not for this new development of the potion."

"The brewers would know, they must have known! They must have tested it." He couldn't believe he had been poisoned.

"I believe they have. But _they_ didn't have a vision at the same time so it didn't bother them in that same way. Your situation is unique, no one could have foreseen your reaction, even if it pains me to admit it, the Ministry did nothing wrong." Dracula said with a grimace. He didn't much like the Ministry for many reasons, even if the main reason why he despised it was because of their attitude against vampires. He continued, "If you wouldn't have thought back and relived it you wouldn't have noticed anything unusual either." he said in one breath. Raven was persistent.

"If they had ran tests after using the potion it must have shown that their magical levels were lowered."

"Magic is a funny thing my friend. You see, your _magic_ was normal but your _defense _was low. Magic is only so many things Raven. Defense is just a part of your magic, but one of the most important ones."

Raven thought about it. "It makes sense I suppose," he agreed slowly. Dracula had always been able to explain the most complex things to him in simple words. "What is the most important thing in magic?" he added curiously.

"Life. Think about it and you'll find that magic _is_ indeed life."

"Some have more life than others, namely wizards! I understand!" Raven exclaimed, excited that he had learned something new, and something important and elementary at that. Dracula nodded amusedly. He really liked Raven.

"But what about you? You're-" Raven stopped uncertain if he dared to say the word or not. Dracula decided for him.

"Undead? Yes that's right. But we're still not _dead _so we still have life," he said in a sober voice. "It is just a different kind of life."

"That's why your magic is different than ours." Raven stated.

"Exactly. Our kind of magic is less complicated. We don't need to practice to get our magic right, nor do we need any help channeling it like you do through your wands. We just do it."

"I wouldn't like to analyze this further. It gives me a headache!" said Raven truthfully.

"I know," Dracula nodded and Raven felt like hitting himself. Of course Dracula knew what he thought and felt. Dracula could sense those sorts of things quite easily.

"How come you knew all this? I wouldn't even have given it a thought!" he said to take his mind of the fact he was so easily read, he wasn't used to that fact yet and it still caused him a sense of discomfort.

"If you have lived as long as I have you would have known it too," Dracula said in a exaggerated snotty voice and Raven laughed.

"Perhaps you'll solve the world's mystery one day."

"Perhaps. Time will tell," Dracula agreed humbly. He really didn't make much noise about himself.

"It would be awfully cool but I'm not entirely sure I'd like to know all the answers to the secrets of the world. What if I don't like what I find, or what if it's so simple that I could cry? I mean..." Raven was rambling on and Dracula listened patiently. He had always liked Raven like a son. That's why he had accepted Raven in his family and they had been bounded by blood in a father and son relationship. That's how Raven had gotten his tattoo because he'd look like that if Dracula were made his biological father. The tattoo portrayed him like a vampire because it was magical and it was his mark to symbolize and inform others that part of him was a vampire. Therefore Raven belonged to the vampires.

-------------------------

Raven jumped when he was unexpectedly touched from behind.

"What's up Raven?" Midnight asked him and let his hand fall down from Ravens shoulder as he took a step back. Raven was outside in the hallway, doing nothing much. He was a little bored so he had wandered around trying to find something interesting to do. His conversation with Dracula had been finished earlier, and Dracula had to go back to work. He was a busy vampire; he took care of most of the things in the vampire society.

"Nothing much," he answered Midnights question.

"No, I meant why do you always jump when someone touches you? It doesn't matter if you see the person, you still flinch anyway. You might as well tell me because I'll find out sooner or later." Midnight eyes looked straight into Ravens, and trust was there. He really did trust Midnight. Midnight was the very opposite of Fire. While Fire was enthusiastic and all over the place Midnight was calm and soothing. He had always been there for Raven and taken care of him, and helped by explaining things inside the castle so he wouldn't embarrass himself.

"Fine," Raven sighed. "For far as long as I can remember when I think back to my childhood I was never held or hugged or even touched unless absolutely necessarily. I was never comforted when I had a nightmare or kissed better when I hurt myself. Such treatment leaves its traces I suppose, because I find it difficult to have people close to me. It's nothing personal but I just can't handle people touching me unless I get used to it."

"You've trained with Blade to be touched, have you not? Since he can touch you freely I assume that is the case."

"Yes that's true," Raven confessed.

"Alright then. I understand you better now. I will try to help you," Midnight said and raven nodded slightly. He wasn't sure whether he wanted any help or not. Midnight suddenly changed the subject abruptly. "I heard that you're leaving today, why so soon?"

"Yes, it was just a short visit this time around. We're going to Malfoy manor for a visit and after that I go back to school."

"But you'll come again soon, right? We all appreciate it when you do. It's always fun to have you here; you lighten things up a bit."

"Thanks Midnight. You know we'll come soon again or else Dracula is going to drag us all the way here by our ears," he grinned.

"Yeah! I'd like to see that..." he laughed. Raven and Midnight continued to chat to each other about everything walked around the grounds together.

-----------------------------------------

Blade and Raven moved on with their schedule. They said goodbye to everyone in the castle and apparated to Malfoy Manor.

"Goyle? Are you in here?" Blade shouted when they entered the main doors. Goyle came from the living room.

"Is it free to talk?" Raven asked him quietly.

"Yes of course. It's only me and my wife here. As well as HIM of course," said Goyle and nodded to the roof. He sounded slightly put out over whoever it was up there.

"How is he Lucius?" Raven asked seriously and with worry.

"No change. Narcissa said it's to be expected."

"Why are you still looking like Goyle?" Blade asked.

"I have warded the manor. I could feel someone coming so I switched to his body. I could not tell it was you. After all, _it is _unexpected to have you here," said Lucius. "Not that I complain of course," he added. Lucius showed them into the living room. After a while he was back to himself with short blond hair, a tan and a sweet smile.

"So Raven, any news about Remus?" Lucius asked him innocently and Raven talked about Remus for a while. He didn't have much to say so he soon left Blade and Lucius to talk amongst themselves as he went upstairs.

---------------------------------------------

Raven watched the man lying pale and unmoving in the king sized bed.. Raven reached out an elegant hand and stroked the black hair out of the man's face.

"Soon we'll talk my friend. I believe you'd like to see my father again. He does not know about you yet. In fact, it's only me, Blade, Narcissa, Lucius and Dracula who know that you're here right now. You do not know Blade and Dracula yet, but you'll like them. I promise.

"Dracula adopted me to his family. I don't think you'll like that. Nor father...

I was just speaking to Lucius downstairs. He has a thing for Remus Lupin you see. I'm doing my best to play match keeper but Remus doesn't know Lucius the way I do. Remus still believes Lucius is evil. So… I think they have a long way to go if they would decide to try and become lovers." Raven was watching the man silently for awhile.

"I'll see you soon again," he said before he left and rejoined the other men downstairs.


	14. Up against the wall

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_

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER FOURTEEN-_**

**BETA: **Green eyes

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/draycious

* * *

"Do you have any idea of how worried I've been?" Severus shouted at him. Snape had asked him that question over and over again a thousand times within the last hour. Thankfully Remus had interrupted Severus in his, what sure would have been, miles long rant quite early on.

Remus handled the situation like always did, by giving a speech that made people feel guilty, but this year, opposite from the third, it didn't become Raven the slightest. He had learned to turn off his guilt feelings quite well.. Perhaps it was the few drops of Dracula's blood that made him able to become uncaring and almost cold whenever he felt like it. Dracula was known for his chilly attitude in the sense of being able to ignore certain feelings.

"I'm sorry dad, but I had to go!" he said just like he had every other time Snape asked him that question.

"You lied, Cercis!" Snape raged.

"No I didn't father. I _did_ go to the hospital and I _did_ give you a report." It all came down to how they saw on certain things.

"You didn't tell me the whole truth, which you were very much aware of! How Slytherin of you!" Severus snarled angrily. He paced around his living room while Raven sat on the couch together with Remus. Remus didn't look happy with him either, but at least he kept a calm façade.

"I'm not allowed to speak the truth!" Raven argued. In a way it was true, even if he could speak the truth if he wished to do so. He simply didn't allow _himself _to tell Snape the truth.

"You will be able to speak up soon Harry. Your father and I are working on setting you free from the American laws," said Remus. Raven nodded absently. He wasn't worried, Blade had already assured him there was nothing Snape and Remus could do about it. Even if he wasn't about to tell them about that little fact just yet. They would find out for themselves soon enough.

"Cercis, I want a full report of your hospital visit because I did say _details _which you didn't provide in your letter. I also want to know if your visit to wherever you were was dangerous," Snape said to him once he had calmed down a little. He still refused to sit down, but he was standing still so Raven took that as a good sign.

"It wasn't dangerous," He said though he knew it was, very much so, but not for him. Not just anyone could waltz right into the castle and expect to be welcomed and treated with respect. The vampires didn't look at things with the same point of view as humans. If someone were to break into their domain they would see that as a huge threat and therefore eliminate it.

"That's something at least," Snape said dryly and crossed his arms. "Report please." Raven sank down further in the sofa before he told them about his hospital visit.

"Did they ask you about what had caused the injuries?" Severus asked.

"No. Since your explosion when one of the doctors asked you, I don't think anyone has even dared to think about it. Which is no surprise. You were very scary back then," he said with a shudder. Snape could intimidate almost anyone if he wished to do so. Even if doctors are constantly threatened by concerned relatives they had not been able to ignore Snape. They had actually called security, who then disarmed Snape for the duration of his visit at the hospital.

"So you're basically fine now?" Remus asked.

"Of course he is! A Snape recovers quickly!" Snape spoke before Raven could answer.

"I wasn't talking to you Severus! I was talking to Harry!" Remus said with mild irritation. He was rapidly getting tired of all the drama, and desperately wanted Severus to shut up.

"Stop calling my son that! You shall call him by his given name!"

"I don't see **Harry** complaining!" Remus growled. His patience was running thin. He had never particularly liked Snape, but he had made an effort to remain neutral.

"Actually," Raven interrupted his fathers retort, "I would like to be called Raven... or Cercis if necessary," he said. That made them both shut up for a moment while they thought about it.

"If you wish," Snape finally agreed since it was a reasonable request.

"I was thinking about your birthday party," Remus suddenly said.

"Erm... Remus? That was ages ago!" Raven said skeptically. He didn't understand why Remus would bring that up now of all times.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not crazy and I'm very well aware of what date it is so I have not lost my mind, "Remus joked.

"Yet," Severus cut in.

"I was however thinking of how we missed celebrating it. As those things happened after you were found again we haven't had the time to celebrate!" said Remus and pointedly ignored Severus slip of tongue earlier.

"Heck no! I haven't even been given any birthday presents!" Raven suddenly remembered. Severus murmured something that sounded suspiciously like 'spoiled' but Raven couldn't be sure. He didn't care much either, for that matter.

"So would you like a big party or just a small one for your friends?" Remus asked him curiously. Raven's eyes lit up at the prospect of a party. When the possibilities became clear for them he gave them a mischievous smile.

"Uh... Cercis, I don't like that look..." said Severus.

"Cercis, are you listening?" Remus asked when Raven didn't respond to Snape in any kind of way.

"Huh? Sorry, what was that?" He asked when he was abruptly interrupted in his plotting. He had some great ideas, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to execute them.

"Never mind. How do you want your party?" Remus said with a sigh.

"Actually... let me have a word with Blade and I'll decide later."

"Blade!? Hell no! Not again! This is between the three of us!" Snape spat. He obviously didn't like Blade very much. He thought the American interfered too much.

"Sorry dad, but I need to talk to Blade. It's alright; I want to talk to him."

"Fine! But damn him if he interferes this time!" said Severus getting a nasty look on his face. Raven wondered if Snape still was suspended from using his wand. When the hospital had reluctantly agreed to return Snape's wand Remus had insisted on safekeeping it until Snape had cooled down. This had persisted inside Hogwarts, and Snape was officially wandless for the time being. This had caused many arguments between Lupin and Snape, but lately it had been quite quiet, so Raven supposed Snape had gotten his want back.

"Further more, would you mind if I planned the party?" He asked them innocently.

"But Cercis! That's our job! You're the guest of honor!" Remus stated confused. He just didn't get it. Then again that might be a good things, if Remus knew what he had in mind he would probably end up with a kid's party, with superheroes and perhaps even princesses.

"No..." said Severus slowly as he stared thoughtfully out in thin air. His previously crossed arms fell limply at his sides.

"What do you mean no? Of course we should do this!" Remus said and turned slightly in the sofa in order to see Snape better and give him a reprimanding and disapproving glare.

"No, he _wants_ to do this himself. It's the least we can do for him," said Severus, to everyone's surprise.. Even Snape himself looked surprised. Raven hadn't known Severus could be so understanding.

"Why would he want that?" Remus asked Snape. Remus, who usually understood most things, was officially puzzled.

"I'm right here you know," Raven threw at him.

"Sorry," Remus responded automatically, and Raven could tell he wasn't really listening to him.

"It's all right. I'll be off then," He said and left the two men to argue whether he should be allowed to plan his own part or not. They never agreed on anything it seemed. They were two very different people, and that brought conflicts. When he left Snape's lair he was cornered by Malfoy.

"Ah, do you want to fuck me senseless or why the pressure?" he asked when he was flat against the wall and Draco was up against him.

"No. I don't want to ruin my reputation if I were to be seen with you, I'll save that for later. Now I'm just making sure that you don't run away when I ask you where you were."

"I was visiting your... I was visiting Goyle. I think you know him," he said dryly and mentally hit himself for his almost slip up, even if he had told Draco on the train it didn't mean he should shout it out for everyone to hear in the corridor. You never knew when someone was around, visible or not.

"Why?" Draco asked him suspiciously.

"Long time no see," he said cheekily and danced around the subject. So did Draco.

"How sweet of you!" Draco drawled. Raven broke free from Draco's grasp and took Draco by the arm and dragged him all the way to Blade's chambers where he pushed Draco through and made him fall down in the sofa.

"Sit!" he said forcefully. "Blade! Get here!"

Blade came.

"What's going on?" he asked with his hair grasped in one hand, and a brush in the other. Draco and Raven stared for a couple of seconds before Draco remembered how he had gotten there; he was not happy!

"Yeah! That's what I'd like to know!" Draco said, rubbing his arm and throwing Raven a dirty look. He was a Malfoy and he did not accept this kind of treatment, _damn it_!

"I've got an idea and we're going to need Draco in order for this to work. Now, listen carefully..." he said and sat down. The others leaned in closer and listened to what he had to say.

* * *


	15. Location

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER FIFTEEN-_**

**BETA:** Tammy

**INFO:** ww. /users/ draycious

**NOTE:** Read Don't deny what you know is true, new chapter out soon.

* * *

**October 14**

Raven was waiting in his fathers chambers for Remus to show up. His plan for his birthday was finished and now he simply had to set everything in motion and make it work in a satisfactory way.

"Sorry I'm late!" said Remus when he hurried inside the living room. His hair was slightly wind blown and he obviously been outside. His robes smelled of autumn, of the wind and the slight water in the air.

"It's OK Remus. Sit down please," he said and pointed at the empty chair next to his father. His father had so far been awfully quiet. Raven suspected he might be plotting something, or he simply didn't have any energy left after the first year potion class. He had heard rumors it had been messy, to say the very least. Judging by how Snape had stormed in to his chambers covered with an awful, god knows what, smelling goo, Raven considered the rumors true. Once Remus was seated he began to talk.

"I've planned the party. I won't tell you what's going to happen or where I've located it. All you need to know is that Blade and the USWWM have arranged a portkey to take everyone there. The 'but' in this is that you'll have to be blindfolded. That's for security. The only thing I will tell you is who is invited," he said and looked at them seriously. They were both looking thoughtful and quite displeased but they nodded never the less. Raven nodded slightly.

"Good, here's the invited people:" he said and fished up a list from his pocket and began to read it out loud.

Neville Longbottom

Cho Chang

The Weasleys (not Percy)

Severus Snape

Remus Lupin

Albus Dumbledore

Minerva Mcgonagall

The rest of the order

Luna Lovegood

Hermione Granger

Draco Malfoy

Blaise Zabini

Crabbe n Goyle

Dean Tomas

Seamus Finnigan

Lavender Brown

Parvati Patil

Padma Patil

Katie Bell

Alicia Spinnet

Angelina Johnson

Ernie Macmillan

Justin Finch-Fletchley

Hannah Abbott

Susan Bones

Terry Boot

Mandy Brocklehurst

Millicent Bulstrode

Rest of Slytherin

Twelve other people plus three "

"Twelve other people plus three?" Severus echoed. Raven nodded.

"All Slytherins and Draco Malfoy?" Remus gasped.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" he asked innocently. He had decided to invite almost everyone, despite not liking them, to show everyone he was a new person, those people didn't know _Raven_, they only knew Harry.

"Who are those people, **twelve and three**?" Severus asked.

"It's a surprise!" he said with his eyes twinkling. He thought that was the best part of his plotting. It would surprise every one of his old acquaintances. He didn't care whether they would like the new people or not. He just wanted everything to be about him, this was his chance to make a statement and tell everyone what he believed in, what he liked and who he was. He chose to do so with showing off his new friends.

"I think I can handle this. I will allow it," said Severus. Raven watched him carefully but he couldn't find the source to the feeling that told him that Snape lied. Then again it might not have been a complete lie, he had invited Slytherins and he was sure Snape liked that fact. He was the only teacher within the school who wanted to let everybody know his Slytherins wasn't any worse than the other students. They were simply very vulnerable to other people's judgment, and they were shaped and acted thereafter.

* * *

**October 21**

Everyone he had invited was gathered in the Great hall accept for those 'three and twelve.' Raven jumped up on a chair and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. He didn't bother using a spell for everyone to hear him; he wanted to do it the old-fashioned way and therefore he spoke loud and clear.

"As you can all see I'm holding a flag here in my hand," he said and raised his left hand to show off a midnight blue and black flag. If you had asked those in the hall what the motive was they would all have answered differently. The original motive was of all and nothing, and it left it up to each person's fantasy and creativity to come up with a motive for themselves. He continued explaining what he wanted them all to do." I want _everyone_ to grab a hold of it!" he yelled. The flag was enormous so it wasn't hard for anyone to not get a hold of it.

"No matter what you do, **don't** let go of this flag. You are now going to be blindfolded. **No** **one **takes it of until I let you do so," he said sharply. It was very important to keep the location of the party a secret. He waved his wand and everyone was blindfolded, save himself and Draco. Blade wasn't in the hall at all, so he had to handle all of the preparations of the guests on his own, with some help from Draco.

"After we've landed we'll have to walk a bit. You will do so quietly and slowly. The only help you've got to move is this flag. We'll be off in three, two, one..." Everyone jerked and they were gone.

Everyone managed to land on his or her feet and Raven was extremely grateful for that because if one of them fell, the rest would follow thanks to the flag. Raven gripped the flag in the front and pulled, making sure everyone got moving in the right direction. He moved slowly to make sure everyone could keep up, and he also made Draco's job easier. Draco helped people to avoid falling without speaking a word. People didn't have to know that he wasn't blindfolded. Whenever there was a bump in the road he was there to guide the person past it by the arm. Soon enough an enormous white manor was seen in front of them. Blade was somewhere on the inside and made sure everything was in order there. Raven led his guests inside the manor.  
It wasn't just any manor; it was the famous Malfoy manor. Most people in the society had only ever heard tales of the manor, but they had never actually seen apart from pictures in various magazines. Everyone was curious about the place since they had heard so much about all the fantastic balls which had been held there and quite many was jealous and hated the fact that the lovely manor belonged to the Malfoy's. Raven had been allowed to hold his party inside, since he had helped Lucius.

They managed to get inside without much trouble, even if Draco had had a sweaty time trying to make sure everyone got the steps up to the front door right. Raven was very pleased with the fact that all of his guests had respected his rules of being quiet. Everyone worked together, and when it sometimes got through to know where to step so they didn't only rely on the flag, but they also took each others hands to help each other over whatever there was laying in their way. _This would work great as a task for teambuilding to help the people learn to trust each other and work together, perhaps we should use this in Hogwarts between the houses to overcome all the silly rivalry,_ Raven mused as he watched them all help each other. Raven stopped the guests in the hall and took off their blindfolds. He watched his father freeze in the crowd. He would recognize the place for what it was of course, he knew the Malfoy's very well, and Lucius even more so. He had been inside this manor countless times. Severus snapped his head and looked over to him and Raven nodded slightly to show him that it was all right. Snape had nothing to worry about. His guests were looking around in the impressive hallway with big eyes and whispered quietly among themselves.

Lucius and Narcissa walked down the marble staircase right in front of them. Immediately everyone's wands came up in defense except for the Slytherins who were standing there passively, waiting to see what the out come of this would be.

"Welcome to Malfoy Manor, but I don't like your manners. Put those wands away," said Lucius when he and his wife stopped at the place where the two first stairs met. They were still above them, but there was only one short stairs down to them from that place.

"Meet Master and Mistress Malfoy. Our house hosts for the night," said Raven in a loud voice. He sneaked an amused glance at Remus who was staring at Lucius with his eyes wide open. Lucius was now with short blond hair, and a tanned face. Raven knew Remus was blown away; he liked that look on Lucius. Lucius saw Remus staring and flashed him a quick smile, which surprised many. Lucius was known for never smiling for real.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please join us in the drawing room," Lucius said and took the lead. Draco did a double take when they entered the room. There was a surprise for him. Even Draco didn't know all of what his plan included. He had only been informed of his task. He ran up to Raven's side immediately.

"What were you thinking? You can't invite Lord Dracula!" he whispered in a furious hiss.

"Why not?" he asked surprised at Draco's reaction. He never would have suspected he had something against vampires all things considered. "They won't do us any harm," he said, thinking maybe that's what troubled the blonde.

"I know that, but god Raven!" Draco said in an upset voice. He didn't care at all that there was vampires present, so raven had been wrong in his assumption. "You invited my uncle _Ancius_! My father's brother! We're in for a disaster!" Draco moaned. Raven smiled. Ancius had the reputation of being a troublemaker; even his nephew Draco thought so. It was quite apparent Draco had had some bad experiences with Ancius and parties, since he acted this way. Draco played and twisted his blue sleeve of his sweater as he threw not-so-subtle glances over at his uncle who looked peaceful enough… for the moment. Once he had had something to drink that would be another story. Despite common beliefs vampires were affected by alcohol, and reacted just like any other humans would when drinking it.

_Oh well, that's what makes parties interesting. Disasters and scandals, is it not? _Raven thought unconcerned about it all. He was there to have fun!

* * *


	16. Kill him!

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER SIXTEEN-**_

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO: **www. livejounral. com / users/draycious

**OTHER: **Check out: http:// www. fanfiction. net/s/3040483/1/

* * *

Snape worked his way through the massive crowd, pushing and shoving to get over to his son. He had managed to calm Draco down somewhat by explaining he did indeed know what Ancius was like. He really didn't expect to handle Snape with the same ease as he had Draco. His father did not look happy about this and if Snape could, Raven was sure that he would be grounded for life.

"Cercis! What the hell are you playing at? Let's get out of here!" Severus hissed, taking his arm. Raven however had other things in mind and shook himself free from his fathers grip. Snape must have been really angry, because Raven had never heard the man curse before, at least not in public.

"Lucius! This isn't working! We need to tell them! What's the point in keeping it secret now when they've seen you?" Raven yelled up at Lucius who yet had to come down from the stairs. He was fairly safe up there, and he had a good view over everybody so he could defend himself quicker and easier if necessarily. The crows looked hostile to say the least. Lucius nodded quickly. He thought it was an excellent idea, especially after getting a good look at Mad-Eye Moody. He wasn't called 'Mad' only because of his eye, the man himself was completely wasn't complexly all there mentally.

"Please sit down," Lucius said to the crowd after Raven had led everyone to a big saloon. Lucius conjured puffs on the floor for people to sit in, since he assumed that was what people like Gryffindor's would prefer. He had often been accused of being snobbish because he preferred to sit in classy chairs; he decided not to make that mistake this time. So, sucking in his pride, he too sat down in one of the puffs on the floor, even if he couldn't hold in a snort of disgust. Severus however remained standing. Lucius raised his eyebrows at his old friend.

"Is something the matter Severus? Something wrong with your puff perhaps?" he asked. He knew Snape too didn't want anything less stylish than a classy chair. He too was brought up with only the best in life.

"It's nothing!" Raven said hurriedly and pushed his father down before Severus could protest. He didn't want an argument to start, there was already a lot of tension in the air and if one started the others would follow until he had a full-blown riot in his hands.

"We'll begin with a brief introduction of those people that you don't know," Raven directed at his old friends and walked over to three people who stood waiting in silence. They were dressed nicely, one in a dark blue dress with pearls in her ears and around her neck, the other dressed in a relaxed/sporty suit with a simple white shirt which was left open.

"These are Blade's parents. Scarce Invadious Black, USAWWM Minister and this is his wife Carolina Black." They made a lovely pair since they looked quite alike, but Carolina had blue eyes instead of green and blonde hair while Scarce was an older version of Blade.

"This is Blade's old bodyguard and friend Jake Sublime," he introduced. Jake had always been there for Blade, whether Blade wanted him there or not. The man had safely guarded Blade throughout the years, and they were pretty close even if Jake was mostly quiet. He was about 40 years old but didn't have any grey hairs and still looked relatively healthy. He was tall and well built just like a bodyguard should be. He stood slightly behind the Black family, even if he was seen as an equal in their eyes. Scarce had never been one for ceremonies, he wanted things to be casual as often as possible. He didn't like flaunting his money and his position in the society like some families often did. Hence why he was very well liked and respected. Carolina was a strong woman, even if she mostly preferred to stand behind her husband and didn't do too much to make people really take notice of her. She wasn't like Narcissa Malfoy. Carolina mostly worked with charity, she was a calm and collected woman, but not in a boring way. She had a sense of humor and could be very entertaining when she wanted. She dared to do things and try out new stuff. Raven loved to be like her, she was almost like a mother to him.

"Here are those twelve people I told you about. Their names are Midnight, Fire, Ancius, Nick, Zander, Mia, Christian, Mary, Axel, Orlando, Tova... and... um..." Raven hesitated when he came to Dracula. "And this is ... Joe," he finally said. He didn't want to cause a mass panic if he revealed that Dracula was in the house.

"Here's the story behind all this," Blade began to say.

"Wait!" Raven interrupted quickly. "Father, do you have any truth serum? I want to show everyone that this is the truth!" he said. Severus nodded and reached into his pocket and fished out a bottle that he kept with him at all times. Raven was well aware of the fact that his father almost always carried around with such a potion. He used it sometimes when he cornered people and demanded truthful answers. His father hade made himself a huge name in Knockturn Alley where he supplied people some of the less legal potions every now and then. It wasn't a well known fact, but Raven had connections and therefore he found out about it. He supposed his father had always been dark, and didn't always agree with the Ministry of which potions should be illegal and which ones shouldn't. Snape gave Lucius the truth serum. Lucius began his story in his own words. It saved Raven the trouble of explaining why they were in the Malfoy manor and why Lucius wasn't in prison.

"It all began when I took the dark mark," Lucius said and ignored the triumphant cries which rang throughout in the room. He had already been revealed, it shouldn't be anything new to them. "I was only sixteen and I was easily convinced that Voldemort was our future. I soon realized my mistake by joining Voldemort. I begged my father for help. Everyone thinks that Lucium Malfoy is my father but it is actually Ancius who is," Lucius said in a monotonous voice.

"WHAT?" Draco exploded but Blade put a hand over his mouth and Lucius continued his story. Raven couldn't even imagine how Draco felt at hearing this.

"Everyone was told that Ancius was my mother's child from an earlier marriage and that Ancius was in a potions accident which makes him stay in his 20's. The accident is true but he wasn't my mother's son. Ancius and my mother had and affair while she was married with my step-father which resulted in me. Ancius wanted to be a part of my life and so they made up this solution and my 'stepfather' never knew the truth."

Draco was staring wide eyed at his father and everyone else was listening transfixed to what Lucius had to say. Even Raven was interested though he had heard this story twice before (He didn't believe it the first time.). He could only imagine what a scandal this would turn out to be amongst the pureblood families at their little get-togethers. The gossiping aristocrats could be pretty merciless when it came down to scandals. They were basically mobbing the one who made the indignity.. Lucius was now officially a bastard, never mind the fat that he was from a good family on both sides.

"Ancius is an important member in a secret organization. The leader, which we call Master, knew Scarce, the Minister of USAWW. Master found out that England was in terror because of Voldemort. Scarce found this upsetting because it reminded him of Hitler in the muggles World War II. When my father, Ancius, found out what I had done, namely taking the dark mark, he spoke to Master who then spoke to Scarce. They decided that I should become a spy for USAWWM. I've been a spy ever since," Lucius said and paused for dramatic effect. "My encounters with Raven were necessary to make Voldemort trust me enough to make me his right hand man. The reason why I'm telling you this now is because I was caught and sent to prison and Voldemort has no further use for me and doesn't give a damn about me. Therefore my spying days are now over and I can go back to living the life I have always wanted too. I also told you this so that you can trust me enough and celebrate Raven this evening without feeling threatened by my presence. After all, Raven is the sole reason you're here!" Lucius said.

When he was given the antidote everyone started clapping their hands and Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling like crazy. Everything Lucius had said was true; how could it not? Well, 'the truth potion' Lucius had taken was actually normal water that Raven had put in Snape's bottle, but his father didn't know that. Nor did anyone else. The reason for the fake potion was because Lucius couldn't tell anyone that they were vampires. It had to be kept secret.

* * *

His birthday 'party' was no ordinary teen event, so before dinner Raven opened the many presents of various sizes and shapes he had got. When he got to Draco's gift he almost dropped it.

"Fuck me! I want to fuck! Oh yes, fuck, fuck, fuck! In the ass, come on baby, fuck me in the ass!" a voice from the box said. Raven opened it carefully. He couldn't even imagine what it could be. He just hoped it was no sex toy or he would never live it down. A cage with holes became visible, but not what was inside of it. He opened the lid hesitantly after a quick glance at Blade. It was a beautiful green and black snake.

"Be quiet little one! What's your name?" Raven asked and ignored the people around him. The snake stopped speaking, presumably, about sex. The horny little bugger raised its upper body and its tongue flickered in the air to smell him. Raven wasn't afraid, he had the feeling the snake was only curious about him.

"Zac," it finally said and the name sounded strange in parceltongue. Raven had to ask if he got it right.

"Zac?" Raven hissed and the snake nodded before he asked to be fucked again. With a perfect straight face Raven said in English:

"Draco, I think you've only just given me a horny gay snake!" The look on Draco's face would forever be imprinted on his mind as everyone burst out laughing. Despite the snake being gay, and horny, he loved his present.

* * *

Later in the evening, while everybody was dancing and many were quite drunk (Professors too), Draco asked Raven to follow him up to his room. Raven had no objections since some of the drunken girls hung on to him, swaying on their feet and confessing their ever undying love for him. He was pretty much ready to go, yeah. He was also very curious about what Draco wanted. He doubted Draco would continue bitching about Ancius, who had in fact been behaving exceptionally well, considering who it was. One could always see through the fingers because of the one moment he decided it was a good time to be sucked off underneath the table during dinner.

Raven followed Draco upstairs; he supposed it was Draco's bedroom even if it looked slightly impersonal at the moment. Yet he didn't think Draco was the poster-guy type like Ron with all of his Quidditch posters. Draco locked the door behind them.

"Come sit down with me," he said and pointed on the big green silk bed. Draco sat down first and watched Raven when he sat down and rested his back against the headboard and when he withdrew his legs up to his chest. Draco moved towards him, creeping slowly on all fours. Raven let him separate his legs.

"What are you doing?" he asked amused. It was a very sexual movement in a bizarre way but he found he didn't care.

"Making myself comfortable between your legs," Draco whispered in a husky voice while he sat down between Raven's legs and rested his back against Raven's chest. Raven let it happen and he even laid his arms around Draco. They were both clearly affected by the alcohol they had consumed in rich volume. Draco snuggled in closer in the embrace.

"Why did you bring me here?" Raven asked in a low voice. The atmosphere was making them talk in hushed voices. The lights were dimmed, all the noise from downstairs were distant but still there. They were beginning to feel slightly tired and they were warm due to the alcohol.

"I want you." Draco blushed when he realized what he had said and what it implied and Raven choked on his breath. They looked at each other, both with slightly stricken faces but for different reasons.

"Er, not like _that_! I mean that I want you here, to talk with," Draco said in a hurry, quickly withdrawing slightly from the embrace. He looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh... all right," Raven said. The silence became awkward instead of comforting.

"So... Uh. What do you want to talk about?" Raven asked, fumbling for a neutral subject to get rid of the tense air.

"I want to know," Draco said surprisingly firm and determent for being affected by stronger liquors. Raven had seen the blonde mixing drinks high and low all evening.

"Know about what?" Raven said even if he suspected he knew what the question would be anyway. It wasn't like he was against telling Draco, he just didn't feel up for it right now. Then again now was as good as ever. Draco turned his head backwards so that he could see the black haired boy.

"How did you get my father out of prison?" Raven smirked and began to tell him. After all, he had had a good time.

_**FLASHBACK **(You need to read carefully to understand and be aware of the POV change)**  
**_

Raven and Blade had just been out running together. Raven was in a terrible mood because Blade had discovered that he pressed himself to the limit as an anger management. After Sirius's death he had felt a lot of anger.

_Typical for Blade to figure it out, he thought angrily as he took off his T-shirt and threw it down on the ground forcefully. _But it was his own fault too. Blade had yelled at him to stop running but he didn't at once. When Blade had caught up with him he had asked him about why he did this to himself and he had finished with: **' I would if you did it because its fun but you don't really do it because of that, do you?'**

To his own stupidity he had answered with a question in return.

"What do you mean?" and then he was in for it. Thankfully count Dracula had come and talked to them, interrupting their soon to be physical fight.

"You have to go and rescue Lucius. I don't care how you do it but you get him out of there, do you hear me? Ancius is killing my sensible ears with his complaints!" Dracula was obviously in a bad mood, Ancius had a certain skill of driving people up the wall after being in his presence too long. You never argued with Dracula so Blade and Raven had no other choice but to go to Azkaban. They worked out a plan quickly and together they decided the easiest way for this to work out, therefore they brought Goyle with them. He was the key in their plan.

"Look. This is how we're going to do it, Goyle, you hug Lucius. Quickly you drown the potion we gave you while you push Lucius to the floor. Blade will jump into you in a pretended fight and give Lucius the potion. I make sure than no one sees the switch while you pretend to fight in a tangled heap. The guard's won't be able to come in time to see the switch we make. Alright?" Raven said.

---------------------------------------------------

Raven shivered when the felt the dementor's presence. God how he hated them! The three of them, Blade, Goyle and Raven were at the reception desk. They had to sign in before they could visit Lucius.

Goyle had come willingly when they asked him if he could help Lucius. Since Goyle couldn't recognize Raven as Harry they pretended to be operating on Voldemorts orders. What Goyle didn't know was that this potion that he would take would make him look like Lucius, would wear off in two weeks, and during that time he would die slowly.

If Goyle decided to expose them when he realized that he wouldn't get out of Azkaban the guards would simply believe that he had gone crazy. As this wasn't polyjuice they couldn't run tests to see that he was an impostor. Goyle would die like Lucius and no one would think to look for the real Lucius, ever again.

"You wish to visit Mr. or MRS, Miss..." a guard asked absently as he looked through papers. There was no order or system what so ever, the guard didn't look like he was one of the brightest people either. _This will be an easy task, _Raven decided.

"Mr. Lucius Malfoy," Raven said shortly.

"Please sign those papers," the guard said. They all signed them quickly. They wanted this over and done with, preferable before someone could come and relieved the retarded guard from his duty. They didn't want to have to deal with a smart hack.

"I need to take a picture of you for security reasons..." the guard babbled. Raven looked at him in a bored way when his picture was taken.

Lucius was waiting for them close to the bars. He had heard them coming. Lucius pretty much looked the same as he did before, with just a few minor changes. He was just tired and dirty. He had probably been able to manage the stay in Azkaban because of whom his father was. Lucius mustn't have been affected by the dementor's like other humans would. At least it looked that way from the doors. Blade quickly whispered their plan to Lucius quietly.

"I'll kill you!" Lucius shouted at Goyle as a part of the whole act. He lunged at Goyle and they fell to the floor. Together they shouted things, but they it was almost impossible to understand. The noise got mixed up in each other. Raven did his best to shield them with his big black cape he wore.. He leaned against the bars and tried to make himself as big as possible. He could hear the guards come running from down the hall. The guards shouted for him to move but he pretended to not hear. He moved aside first when Lucius and Goyle had switched bodies with each other and when Blade had wandlessly switched their clothes.

"He's mad! He attacked me! Kill him!" Lucius gasped in Goyle's body.

"Now wait a minute, this man is already locked up in here. That's a far worse punishment than any kind of death. I think it's time for you to leave now, and I advice you to pay no further visits to Malfoy," the guard said with a disdainful look at 'Malfoy'.

"And that's how we got him here," Raven finished.

**END FLASH BACK**

* * *

"That sounds too easy," Draco said.

"It wasn't. Everything had to be done with perfect timing. I happened to know that those guards were new and not as hard in the security as the old ones. You always have to find the weakest link."

"Point taken. But I don't understand why you hang out with Weasley. He's a nobody! He's the weakest link in your trio."

"I don't hang out with him Dray, I really don't." Raven said with a frown.

"Okay."

They sat in silence again but this time it was a comfortable silence. Draco had his eyes closed and Raven stroke his hair slowly.

"Dray, do you know what's in the room opposite from yours?" Draco frowned slightly.

"No, but I've tried to find out," he confessed. Raven suspected he had. Draco had always been a very curious being. "Mum and Dad refuse to tell me and they've warded the room. Mum spends an awful lot of time in there. Why? Do you mean that you know?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yes I know what it is in there. Come on, I'll show you!"

Draco and Raven got up and tiptoed across the hallway because they could clearly hear some couples making out near by. It was to be expected in a party full of Slytherins and Vampires.

Raven opened the door easily, despite all the magical wards. The man was still lying in the bed but they couldn't see his face from the door. Raven closed the door behind them silently.

"Raven, someone is there!" said the Slytherin and pulled his sleeve.

"Yes I know. This is what we've guarded. He's unconscious. Go on and have a look!" he urged. Draco moved over to the bed curiously and took a peak. He gasped in shock and stumbled backwards.

"Oh my god Raven! You've got to kill him!" he shouted.

* * *


	17. The Day After

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-**_

**BETA:**tammy

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious

**OTHER: **Heads up for a new (completet) little story that will come out soon. On adult. ff net

* * *

**MEANWHILE DOWNSTAIRS **

"Lucius!" Snape said once people had gotten out of his way. He didn't really trust his old friends Lucius and questioned the announcement. Still he couldn't quite figure out why he still couldn't believe in it, since it had been veritaserum he had made himself. Yet he trusted his instincts since they seldom proved him wrong. He didn't think Lucius was any immediate threat, if he would have thought so he would already have collected his son and left, but something fishy was definitely going on and he was determent to finds out what exactly it was.

"Hello Severus. Enjoying the party?" Lucius asked nonchalantly as he surveyed the room. He was every bit the aristocrat and nursed a glass of champagne in his hand, the most expensive and pure brand out of his own collection of course.

"What are you playing at?" Severus hissed to him in a low voice while he stood only half turned to Lucius. The rumors about him being a death eater was worse enough as they were, and he didn't want the students to report any kind of relations between him and Malfoy sr.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Lucius and looked over at some already drunk Slytherin students. A fond smile played on his lips; he remembered when he and Snape had been in that age. Those were the times.

"You know very well what I'm talking about. Both you and I know that you're not some bloody spy, you never have been!" Snape spat to him. Snape considered himself extremely skilled in his spying, and if Lucius would have been a spy he reckoned he would have known about it long before anyone else. Lucius sighed. He knew that Severus would be difficult to convince at once. He had had a lot of practice dealing with the man throughout the years, even if their relationship had been frosty at its best the previous fifteen years or so.

"Severus, I found out about you ages ago. I could have turned you in but I didn't because I knew that you worked for the order," Lucius said seriously, in a very low voice since some people were getting nearer to them. Snape looked gob smacked at that piece of revelation. He had obviously thought his act had been foolproof.

"Pull yourself together," said Lucius out of habit but with an air of indifference. He had been brought up that way since he was a pureblood and he knew Snape had been trained in the same way. Loosing control over the emotions could sometimes be fatal for a spy. "The reason why I didn't turn you in to neither the Ministry or the Dark Lord was because you did a good job. You worked for the right people, and for the best intentions. I admire that. There are others that haven't been loyal and I've turned them in, because they worked for their own benefit. When I first found out that you were a spy I didn't know for whom you worked for. So I observed you and I soon realized that you worked for someone inside Hogwarts. My guesses were Dumbledore. I have monitored you all these years, in case you would switch sides again. This year I came in contact with Raven. He confirmed my suspicions and told me about the Order of the Phoenix. Master decided that I shouldn't tell you that I knew..."

First now Lucius really looked at Severus but Severus had hidden his thoughts and feelings just like he had been told to earlier. Nothing gave away what he thought about this.

"Who is this Master you all talk about?" Severus asked sharply and very curiously. He really wanted to know, and he would use any means to get that piece of information as soon as possible. However, Lucius was saved from answering the question because his son came racing down the stairs with Raven furiously chasing him.

"Father! Father! Si-_Ough_!" Draco yelled but was interrupted. Raven had jumped on Draco like a puma that strikes its prey and they both fell down on the floor with a thud. The air briefly left Draco and Raven hurried to quiet Draco with a hand over his mouth.

"Lucius, I think your son has had a tad bit too much to drink. He is hallucinating about dangerous ape's running wild in the room opposite from his. He is in the belief that they are trying to kill me. Perhaps you could talk some sense into him?" he asked meaningfully and made a quick silence charm on Draco so he could safely remove his hand since Draco tried to bite him. Lucius understood precisely and dragged his son away even if Draco did everything in his power to stay in the room. Some people thought the whole scene was hilarious and laughed heartily at Draco.

"So how's the party? Wanna dance?" Raven yelled out in the room and everyone went back to dancing instead of staring at him. The others seemed to enjoy their night out of Hogwarts and he couldn't be happier. He just wanted people to relax and have a good time. Satisfied with everything so far he walked over to Remus who was one of the few who didn't dance.

"Remus, Would you like to dance?" He asked confidently. He wasn't afraid of dancing anymore he could dance now. He had gotten lessons from all kinds of people inside Dracula's castle and also from Blade. Remus looked at him surprised. Raven could imagine Remus didn't get many requests like that since he was a werewolf.

"Uh, sure," Remus replied a bit stunned. Raven wasn't the only one dancing with a guy. It was very mixed couples out on the floor. Many danced with their friends just for the heck of it. Nobody cared about their reputation since most people knew each other, and besides that homosexuality wasn't frowned upon in the wizarding world.

"Raven, you knew that I'd like Lucius when he is looking and behaving like this!" Remus suddenly moaned and dropped his head onto Raven's shoulder. Raven grinned when he caught a glimpse of Remus' blushing cheeks. Apparently this had been eating Remus since they had gotten here tonight.

"No I didn't know you would like him," he confessed and Remus looked up with surprise. "But I had my suspicions and you just confirmed them!" he added cheekily and Remus laughed and hit him on the shoulder playfully, a side that Raven could picture Remus showing off more when he was younger and still in school. Remus was by no means boring as adult, only slightly more reserved, and even more so now when most people knew about his werewolf condition.

"What shall I do? He's nothing like we thought!" Remus said despairingly once they had laughed a bit. He really did look like he didn't know what to do with himself and Raven felt for him. It couldn't be easy to be Remus.

"Why don't you go and talk to him?" Raven suggested. It was an obvious thing for him even if it didn't seem all that obvious for Remus at the time. He was really confused over Malfoy's change. Raven felt a bit sad that people treated Remus like dirt for things he had no control over. Remus eyes widened when he heard the suggestion.

"Talk to him? Are you mad? I can't do that!" Remus cried and a few other couples looked over at them curiously and Remus calmed down.

"Why not? I'm sure he'd enjoy a little chat. As it is there is very few people that dares to talk to him at this moment," he said and thought that that would be a great connection point between Remus and Lucius. They were both outsiders at the moment, albeit their situations were different, they were still outside the crowd. With that thought in mind they had something in common.

"I don't know what to talk about with him!" Remus said and Raven almost sighed. Remus was so gifted and clever, he knew a lot of things and he was well educated. So was Lucius, and he was convinced they enjoyed reading about the same stuff. There had to be something. Raven decided not to bring that up now, they would have to find that out for himself. He didn't want their conversation to sound formal and forced. He wanted it to flow and evolve on its own. So instead he suggested something relevant and something that was "the talk" right now. It was an easy and fairly neutral subject, but yet Remus would learn something about Lucius' family, and it would lay close at heart for Lucius without it being too deep. Therefore it was neutral in the sense that Lucius didn't have to talk about himself, nor did Remus have to. Often it was easiest to ask talk about people you both knew or were curious about. It was a great opener for a conversation.

"Tell him that I implied that his father Ancius gets up to much funny business. Ask him about it. Lucius will be happy to share a few of the many crazy stories involving Ancius. Our dear vampire is a troublemaker and notorious among everyone for that. Lucius won't be offended," Raven assured him.

"Oh...OK, I'll do that," Remus said and sounded like he tried to cheer himself on. The whole determination seemed to crumble in the next second. "How can I go and do this? Lucius is married, he won't be interested in me!"

"Lucius is Bi sexual. Narcissa let him have male relationships. She doesn't mind. Everybody knows that one person could love more than just one. The question is if you are willing to share."

"I think that I would if I loved the person," he said slowly. They were quiet for a while; Remus seemed to think things through. He glanced over at Lucius who was alone by now, and Draco had returned to the room as well. Raven decided to encourage Remus, or nothing would ever happen.

"Go over there and try!" Raven encouraged him. Remus nodded, took a deep breath, gulped and hesitated but after that he was finally off. Raven shook his head amusedly. Sometimes he thought he was the only adult in the room. As Remus left Draco came.

"That went quick," Raven commented dryly.

"I'm sorry! I really thought that he was a threat to you," Draco said sheepishly and blushed. His head hung and he looked really ashamed of his behavior. He knew he could act rash and dramatic, but this had really taken the price. Draco could only imagine what a scandal it would have been if this party had been a pureblood dinner invitation instead. His family used to host them every now and then.

"It's OK Dray. Just don't spill the secret. Cheer up now! Wanna dance?" Raven said quickly and tried to lighten the mood. He just wanted to forget the whole thing, besides, it hadn't been that bad, nothing to cry or hide over.

"Yeah… Why do you call me that?" Draco asked as a slow song began and they had their arms intimate around each other.

"Call you what?" Raven asked puzzled.

"'Dray'... not that I am complaining or anything. I'm just curious I guess," Draco admitted and blew some hair out of his eyes. Raven laughed when it fell right back and Draco mock glared at him.

"It comes naturally. I sort of like it," Raven responded and went back to the original track. He and Draco danced many times that night and the mood was light and happy. Raven was very pleased with the party, and he saw that even his father looked content, or perhaps that was because the man had found himself one of the best bottles of whiskey in the whole Malfoy household.

* * *

Since the party had been on a Thursday, Friday was a pure hell for those who had attended. Everyone had a horrible headache and many were feeling sick too. Madam Pomfrey couldn't help them much because she had run out of hangover potions and the only one able to brew new ones were Snape and he wasn't feeling very co-operative since he too wasn't feeling very well. 

Ron was in a horrible mood all day long.

"How could you dance with him? He's a guy!" Ron yelled in the Gryffindor tower and Raven winced when his head hurt. Snape hadn't given any potion to him either. _He really is a sadist_, Raven thought sourly.

"So? I'm pretty sure that I saw you dance with Dean a couple of times! What does it matter? Did you fail to notice when I shoved my tongue down Jessica Down's throat?" Raven asked sourly. He was fed up with Ron's attitude. He had done nothing wrong, and Ron knew it.

"Raven, I don't think anyone missed that!" Hermione said brightly. She was in a good mood today, she had flirted at the party and for her it had been a total success. Raven had been very drunk when he did that stunt with Down, he didn't even remember all of it, just bits and pieces.

"Would you lay of his back Ron? Every guy danced with a guy yesterday. I danced with a girl but that doesn't make me gay. Besides, Raven _did_ say that he wasn't gay during the hearing with Fudge the other day, didn't he?" she reasoned and took Raven's side. Raven was surprised since Hermione seemed so relaxed about the whole thing, she was usually very uptight but now Hermione and Ron's roles were reversed. He wondered if they ever could agree on something. Ron went red in the face at hearing that.

"Still! Maybe Malfoy's gay! We don't know that!" he argued. Raven groaned. This was getting ridiculous.

"You know what, think whatever you want. I'm going to visit my dad!" he said and stormed outside, well as good as anyone could storm with a big fat hangover.

Raven was stopped by an anxious looking Draco in the dungeons before he reached his fathers office.

"What's the matter?" Raven asked. He wasn't used to see Draco in that state. His hair and clothes were in disarray.

"Come with me. We'll have to floo to Malfoy manor. Dracula is waiting for us. Blade is already there."

"Why? What happened?" Raven asked concernedly. He could tell this was something big and serious, or else Draco wouldn't look that way. Draco looked at him with a dark look.

"I don't know but I have this very bad feeling. It's bad. Real bad," he said ominous.

* * *


	18. Battle

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER EIGHTEEN-**_

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com/ users/ draycious

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When Draco and Raven arrived at Malfoy manor, they were surprised to see Dracula, Midnight, Fire, Blade, Ancius and Scarce sitting in silence in the living room, waiting for them. They were all looking unusually grave and Raven didn't like that one bit. Whenever Ancius was sitting silently in a chair, something bad was going on. Draco came and stood silently by his side as they surveyed the room.

"What's going on?" Raven asked in a strong voice, this was no time to be a pussy.

"Voldemort is attacking Hogwarts tonight," Dracula said in his gravest voice.

"What?" Draco yelled. Raven winced again and sat down next to Midnight who discreetly passed him a hangover potion which, conveniently, happened to be lying around. The other had obviously had had hangovers as well, because empty vials were littered around the room.

"I guess you're in a need of this," Midnight whispered dryly to him.

"Thanks," he smiled weakly. After he had drowned the potion he immediately felt more alert and fit for fight.

"You're serious," he stated. Dracula nodded.

"Oh whatever! Bring him on!" he said flippantly. He was tired of talking about Voldemort like he was he most contagious and lethal decease in the room. Draco looked at him incredibly.

"He'll kill you" he said.

"Hell no! I'm better than he is, thanks for the vote of confidence," he said sarcastically. He then added: "Don't worry about me. So, do you have any plans because there will be lots of death eaters and most students won't stand a chance against his army." Raven continued to the adults.

"I've got a simple solution. Gather the whole school and order members in the Great Hall. We'll let them think they're there for some information about a visit from a bordering school and Blade will hold that 'meeting'. But once they are all gathered inside and blissfully unaware of what's going on outside, Blade will lock them in the hall. In the meantime our troops will go up against Voldemort. We've got enough people, Voldemorts forces isn't nearly as big as ours. According to our sources, mainly Lucius, the reason why he attacks now is simply because he's eager and he only counts with fighting against the Ministry and the order worthwhile, which I might add, is a shame to admit that Voldemort and his 1000 death eaters are enough people to beat the Ministry. He won't beat us of course," said Midnight smugly.

Midnight was always the war strategist and leader among their own private army. He had trained Blade and Raven during the summer and he was extremely intelligent. You had to give him credit, for that even if he always had childish squabbles with Fire. Fire was a warrior trainer, very good in defense and attack. They worked very well together when it was serious, and they were serious then as well.

"Go for that. It's an easy and quick solution," Dracula decided after thinking it through quickly.

"Raven, you know how to kill him, right?" Scarce asked him. Raven nodded even if he didn't exactly know exactly how he was supposed to do it. There were a lot of 'what ifs' to the theory he had studied about various killing curses.

"They mustn't know we're vampires. As soon as someone is hit with _Avada Kedavra _we have got to pretend to die. Then we attack from behind if necessary," said Fire. Everyone nodded. It was a clever solution indeed. They would get back at their enemy when they least expected it, and in the least expected way as well.

"We don't need your forces Scarce, but make sure that they're available just in case there is a surprise waiting for us," said Dracula. It was then decided they would follow this easy, but highly lethal plan.

* * *

Blade didn't show anyone how restless he really felt when he stood waiting silently in front of the whole school inside the Great Hall. He really wanted to be outside fighting with the rest of his comrades, but he had been assigned to this post and he would follow it through. He didn't feel any need to play hero, even if it was slightly disappointed to be stuck with a bunch of kids and some adults. Without as much as a word he warded and locked the doors in four ways.

_Wandless_

_Vampiric_

_Elven_

_Wizarding_

Dumbledore would never be able to break the spells. His power wasn't even enough to break the wandless magic ward. A few students began to whisper but most teachers only raised an eyebrow at his actions. He was satisfied with the fact that he hadn't caused a mass panic yet. It was distrustful times, and people didn't take kindly at being locked in.

He cleared his throat and the hall silenced almost immediately.

"As you saw with your own eyes I locked the doors in many different ways. None of you, as of now, will able to get out." The teachers began to shift slightly in their chairs when they heard that announcement. "Outside this castle things are about to happen. Many people will gather on the school grounds today and this day will go down to the history books. I brought you here to discuss a school visit, or so you thought. I'm afraid there is no school visit!" He announced and Snape angrily stood up.

"What are you playing at? Where on earth is Cercis?" he said and looked around the hall. Other people looked around the hall too, to see if they could spot Cercis.

"Cercis is not here. He's outside the school. You see, Cercis, _Raven_, belongs to an organization with consists of some very powerful people. These people are very, very powerful and wise. They have information about a certain Death eater attack which will take place any minute now. Outside of this school there are 1000s of warriors gathered, all waiting to go up against Voldemort and his forces. Cercis is one of the main people out there. As I speak in this moment, they should be arriving," he said.

Just on cue the whole castle shook on its grounds when Raven arrived with all the men. It was a serious piece of advanced magic going on outside, and it affected the castle's protective walls. The order tried to get out but to no avail. In order to stop the chaos which broke out Blade performed a several wandless high pitched sounds.

"I know that you wish to be out there and do part but you'll only get in the way. I will however allow you watch the battle from inside this hall," Blade said. A screen not unlike those on a muggle cinema emerged in the front of the hall so everyone could see it. On that screen they could follow Raven, since he was the main person in this whole drama. They could follow his very move, and hear everything he said. It was like they were right beside him.

* * *

Raven stood in silence on the Hogwarts stone stairs right outside the main door. He was unaware that Hogwarts inhabitants were watching him from inside the hall. He looked out over the troops that were stationed out over the grounds. Raven, Dracula, Midnight, Fire, Ancius and Lucius stood tall on the stairs together. They were the main core of this operation. Scarce was on standby with his troops back in USA.

"Remind me again of why I'm out here with you instead of hiding inside the Great hall like a coward?" Lucius asked Raven and at that moment he behaved very much alike Draco.

"Because you're a Malfoy with pride and because you begged on your bare knees to be out here with us," Raven answered dryly.

"Malfoy's never beg," Lucius replied snootily and received snorts form all around him. "If that part of the Malfoy pride is so true, then why the hell is my brat in safety inside, huh? He's a Malfoy too, isn't he? No wait a minute! He isn't!" Lucius exclaimed with a surprised look.

"He isn't? Did 'Cissa cheat on you?" Fire asked and leaned in curiously and Lucius swatted him away annoyed.

"Not that I'm aware of, no", Lucius said absently. "But my mother did!" he exclaimed.

"What are you-oh!" Raven said when he caught on. "So what are you Ancius?"

"Huh?" the vampire responded. For being so clever he really was slow on the catch up.

"If you say Weasley I _will_ kill you," Lucius murmured and Raven laughed.

"I'm a DeSilva", Ancius shrugged and didn't sound the least arrogant.

"DeSilva? Wow," said Lucius and whistled when he heard it.

"Did you expect any less than one of the first pure blooded wizarding families?" Ancius asked, and this time he was snobbish about it.

"I didn't know what to expect," Lucius said honestly.

"Soon you'll have thousands of names to be referred as," Raven teased Lucius. Lucius really did have a one of a kind heritage tree. It was complicated like few, and the intrigues between ancient family members made it even more so.

"You're one to talk! Mr. Raven Potter, Blood, Snape, Black, Lupin, uh... Dracula?" Lucius asked and stumbled over the last name. Raven laughed at him.

"Actually it's Tepes, my last name. Dracula means _devil's son _and Tepes means _pole slayer_... I think. Isn't that right?" Raven asked Dracula.

"Yes but Tepes was given to me. My real last name is actually _Herine_."

"Herine?" Raven gasped. It didn't sound very royal, and it also sounded suspiciously like heroin.

"Yes, that is correct," Dracula nodded.

"B-but! You're a count!"

"So? Didn't affect my name you know," Dracula said dryly and perhaps a bit defensively. His members of his clan sniggered softly at Raven's gob smacked look. Perhaps they were simply making small talk and fooling around because they wanted to take their mind of the battle. Just standing there in silence and waiting seemed too macabre.

"Guess not," Raven murmured.

"So you're unofficially Raven, Harry, Cercis, James, Severin, Ravial, Snape, Black, Lupin, Potter, Tepes, Herine... hell I see why you stick to Raven only," Midnight laughed.

* * *

"Dracula? DRACULA IS OUT THERE WITH MY SON? WHAT THE HELL? And why the fuck does he have _his_ last name?" Severus Snape yelled in the hall. He was in a really bad mood. People around him had withdrawn as far away from him as they could get. Even Albus was keeping a safe distance. Snape was positively seething with rage, at the prospect of not being able to fight the final battle. He had spent most of his life waiting for this day and now he wasn't allowed to attend. It was like giving candy to a child and then taking it back, just tenfold worse. A billion times worse!

"Um... Dracula sort of made a father-son blood bond between them..." Blade said timidly.

Severus Snape actually feinted when he heard that. It all became too much for him and his blood pressure had reached its limit. His body shut down completely.

* * *

Raven sighed.

"Where is the fucker?" he asked irritated. Suddenly right after he asked the earth shook just like it had when they had arrived.

"Guess the fucker is here now," Midnight spoke dryly.

"About damn time!" said Raven and hid his nervousness when their forces attacked the surprised and unprepared new comers. This was it.

Raven laughed when he killed his fifth death eater. He had so much fun out on the field. He was having the time of his life, or perhaps he was simply telling himself that in order to go on.

The death eaters wasn't easy to fight with but nor were they hard either so he had a good time. He had never been in any serious trouble yet. He looked over at Fire and saw him wring the neck of Goyle the elder death eater. The vampires went forward brutally, since they were used to blood and death didn't become them very much as long as it wasn't about them selves. Raven swore rather loudly when he was stabbed in his shoulder from behind by a different death eater than the one he was actually fighting with. With a kick in split they were both out of the game.

"Now where is Voldemort?" he asked in a sing-song voice and scanned the grounds with his eyes. He stunned a few death eaters on his way through the fighting crowds. His side was superior to the others and everything was looking good so far. So vampires that had 'gone down' were lying still on the ground, pretending to be dead until they would get the signal that they could rise again. Raven had never doubted that his side would be better than Voldemorts. Voldemort had no good structure, and the cunning wasn't on a high level.

He found Voldemort minutes later.

"Tom!" he yelled sharply and Voldemort spun around.

"Well if it isn't baby Potter? What a lovely day for you to die on, don't you think?" Raven actually snorted at that and wondered if Voldemort spent all his time hidden away reading cheesy books and watching corny muggle movies. He wouldn't be surprised. Voldemort was the biggest damn hypocrite he had ever had the misfortune to meet.

"Funny, I thought the same thing about you. Me dying is against the odds, you know," he said calmly with his wand firmly pointed at Voldemort. Nothing could stop him now; he could feel it in every fiber in his body. This was it.

"Against the odds you say?"

"Indeed. I'm the boy-who-lived. I can't very well be the-boy-who-died, now can I?"

"I fail to see the difference," Voldemort stated in an almost smug voice.

"Then you need some English lessons love," he smirked.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort hissed. Raven jumped to the side and a death eater behind him was hit instead.

"Why thank you Tom! You saved me the trouble!" he said happily and kicked the dead death eater to the side. Raven had a theory of how to kill Voldemort. He had no idea if it would work practically but he had to try.

"Avada Kedavra," Voldemort yelled for the second time. This time Raven made no move to prevent getting hit from the fatal curse.

"Ow, this shits gonna hurt," he said before he was hit. His scar sprung open and the green light reflected and shot back at Voldemort in an incredible speed. Raven screamed in pain as Voldemort was hit.

"No!" Voldemort said in disbelief. "Not again," he shouted before he screamed in pain and his body began to burn to ashes. With a great effort and incredible strong willpower Raven ignored his pain and lifted his wand.

"Soulero catchu," he whispered (AN: soul catcher) "Soulero destructo," he continued. (AN: Soul destroyer) and Voldemort was no more. Just history.

Raven laughed madly in both pain and relief before he passed out. He woke up only minutes later still outside on the battle ground with Dracula hovering over him.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Fine," he said truthfully and felt with his fingertips over his forehead. His wound was healed. Dracula's work no doubt.

"Thanks," he said gratefully as he tried to sit up from the dirty ground. Since the weather hadn't been on its best, the ground was muddy and cold. Dracula nodded in acceptance and helped him sit up.

"I'm not even going to ask you what the hell you were thinking," Dracula said and stood up and turned around and walked away, killing a death eater casually whom happened to cross his path.. Only meters away he turned around however.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? You didn't know if it would work! You just fucking winged it!" Dracula roared while shaking madly. Raven had truthfully never seen him so mad and shaken before.

"I _did _think," he argued. He didn't think it was fair to say otherwise. "It's true that I didn't know whether it would work or not but I had to try something!" he said heatedly. Dracula walked over in a few long strides and hugged him tightly to his chest.

"Fuck Raven, I could have lost you forever. You're not undead you know," he said and kissed his forehead and smooth Raven's hair lovingly. _No, I am not undead but the legend about me will be,_ Raven thought, safe and content in Dracula's arms.

* * *


	19. How to become a father in Snape style

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER NINETEEN-_**

**BETA**:tammy

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious

**LINK: **_**http//hp. adultfanfiction. net /story.p hp?no 600007596**_

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Severus Snape was trembling wildly there he sat on the floor. With a shaky hand he tried to massage his forehead to get rid of all the white spots dancing in front of his vision. It was just too much for him with all the new and confusing information about warriors and Dracula and what not coming in a neat package all at once. 

The worst part was that his son was in the middle of it, and as he now understood, one of the leaders.

Cercis had vanquished the Dark Lord and because of that Snape was in a great deal of pain because his dark mark had disappeared in the same process, and that hurt like hell.

The battle was over and every one of the fighters gathered in the very much-overcrowded Great Hall of Hogwarts while the Ministry took care of the bodies outside. They had arrived first when everything was over, and was no doubt trying to take credit for the victory, but Raven and his crew would have none of that. This was their battle, and therefore their glory and credit. No one on Raven's side had actually died since they were already undead and the Death Eaters never figured out what they were. It hadn't yet sunk in on people that Voldemort was dead and now gone forever. Some sort of melancholy atmosphere had taken over, and people didn't speak much with each other. It had been a shocking discovery to hear they would be attacked, and then soon after watching the whole battle. Raven had been very busy organizing things with the vampires and had yet to meet his father.

"Narcissa," Raven shouted out to the woman who had only just arrived. She came over to him and hugged him.

"Are you up to do some singing?" he asked her. It was a vampire tradition to sing after a victory in battle, and Raven felt like he needed to follow that tradition right now.

"Sure," she said and nodded. She had prepared for something like this, being married with Lucius had always meant that she was in close contact with the vampires and knew their ways.

While everyone else was busy Raven made a scene out of the head table. He played guitar along with Midnight, and it was by no means anything corny or something like that. They were just a couple of people on stage making their tribute to everyone who had assisted and participated in the battle. Lucius was the drummer much to everyone's surprise. Fire played bass and Blade played keyboard and piano. Scarce's wife sang along with Narcissa since they knew each other well. People quit their low murmurs and listened to them.

_It could have been the end of hope_

_The lost of the remaining innocence_

_Death holds no glory_

_When it isn't justified_

_Dark angels took over the sky_

_Death knocked on our doors_

_Dark was the day when everything was lost_

_Forever their lives shall be stuck in darkness_

_Forgiveness is not easily given_

_And even less easy to accept_

_Now we reach out our hand_

_In an act of peace _

_To forever assure those who is left_

_It will never happen again_

_We came we won _

_Our victory_

_Forever united through dark and lighter times_

_No one will ever break our blood bonds_

_(Pure Black, 2006)_

It was a dark song but Raven saw no reason for playing a happy and light song just because they had won the war. This song was a traditional one to pay respect for those who died, even if it was the enemy. Lives are worth more than anything on earth, and everyone had to pay respect and keep that in mind. Pointless killing was something frowned upon, even in the vampire society. No one should be allowed to take a life, unless necessarily. Raven loved the darker and perhaps slightly morose songs, and so did everyone who felt at least some kind of attraction towards the darker side of life as well as darker themes. It didn't matter if it was about movies, sex, music or books- they still meant something just as good as perhaps a book about children.

They ended their tribute song with the out dying tones of the guitars and slowly people began to clap their hands. The crowd hadn't expected anything like this to happen since most people weren't aware of the traditions, but they appeared to like it. Raven bowed and went of stage together with the others. He was happy that it was over and he didn't have to worry about Voldemort any longer. He had no worries now; except for one special person still inside Malfoy manor…

"Cercis, oh my god!" his father said when he had finally pushed through the crowd and hugged him tightly.

"'Lo Dad," he said almost shyly. He didn't know how to act now. Raven was startled to see real tears glistering in his father's eyes.

"Dad?" he whispered.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm just happy!" his father assured him and hurriedly drew his sleeves over his eyes and dried his tears. Raven was quite sure that Snape didn't much care about reputation for the moment, but Snape wasn't a man who easily showed emotions and even less tears. Remus managed to make his way over to them as well. How he managed that was beyond Raven since almost everyone was stepping on each other's toes all the time. The Hall wasn't designed to fit this many people all at once.

"My cub!" he said and yanked him out of Severus' arms and into his own instead.

"Oomph!" Raven got out when he hit Remus' chest and the air was squeezed out of his lungs.

"Sorry cub," Remus said with humor and kissed his forehead. Snape said nothing but stepped a bit closer if possible. Raven looked over Remus' shoulder just in time to see Fudge climb up on a table and clap his hands for attention. Once everyone had realized the Minister was trying to tell them something, they stood still and listened.

"I am proud to be able and welcome back two persons, who have been trapped inside a veil in the Ministry for many years," Fudge started and Raven looked over at Blade confused. They hadn't known that someone else who wasn't supposed to be in the veil was there when they had operated their business there! Or else they would have helped those persons out of the veil as well.

"Those two persons are James and Lily Potter!" Raven gasped and took a several steps backwards and out of Remus' arms when the two Potter's walked towards him with tentative smiles on their faces.

"Blade!" he said in a whisper. "BLADE!" he yelled in all his might when his 'parents' kept getting nearer. He felt his heart start to beat wildly and his hands go clammy. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was panicking for no reason, but he couldn't stop his reaction. Blade ran over to him and didn't care that he made some people fall in his wake. He stood behind Raven's back with his arms protectively lying around him. He guided him through his attack with a firm and confident voice. Remus' actions were the most surprising.

"Raven is mine!" he growled and stepped in front of Raven, effectively blocking the Potter's way to him.

"Remus?" James asked confused. What he saw was an older version of his friend. Severus was standing behind Raven with a hand on his shoulder. He too wouldn't let anyone come near, and even less of a chance that he would let his old enemy come through. Lily and James looked back and forth over them with confused looks.

"What's going on and who's Raven?" Lily asked finally.

"I am," said Raven.

"Why do you say that Raven, Harry, our son, is yours Remus? And why the hell does Snivellus touch him?" James asked angrily. He didn't know what was going on, he didn't like it and he wanted all the answers at once.

"Because I am his father;" Severus said. James laughed when he heard and Lily looked seriously confused. James glanced at Lily when she didn't laugh.

"What are you talking about?" James asked and hid his hesitation and uncertainness behind anger. All his laugher had vanquished. He like everybody else wanted to make thing go back to normal.

"I am his father. How I am, I don't know. It seems like Cercis knows through..." Severus said and looked at him. Raven cleared his throat. He had calmed down enough to be able top explain everything.

"When Blade took me to USA I met Scarce. He is the Minister of the Ministry of the United States. He told me that Severus was my father. I didn't believe him so he offered me some proof. First we did a family tree potion. Then he showed me memories from Lucius Malfoy…" he paused and took a deep breath. This would be hard to explain, and it would hit those people involved hard. "About 17 years ago Voldemort ordered Severus to capture Lily Evans when Voldemort spotted her walking by their meeting place. Severus had no choice but to rape Lily in order to save both their lives... Voldemort hoped to get an heir of Severus because he regarded Severus as a very powerful and valuable follower, and he counted on his heirs being the same... Lucius Malfoy was a spy and modified both Lily and Severus' memories to keep the unborn child, _me_, safe. When it was time for my birth he snuck into the hospital and charmed me to look exactly like James Potter. Lily never suspected a thing and she truly though that I was James' child. Lucius put up James as my secret adoptive father, he did tell Lily the truth and she gave me a name as the Snape heir before Lucius oblivated her of the memory once again and the truth wasn't shown until now, 16 years later. Voldemort also thought that Severus' attempt to get a child with Lily was a failure because I looked so much like James." People were stunned when he finished, and he expected nothing less. He knew exactly how they felt, since he had been in that very same position a couple of months previous. He just hoped everyone would understand Lucius actions just as well as he did, and not blame the man for anything.

* * *


	20. Bend both ways

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER TWENTY-_**

**BETA:**tammy

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com/ users/ draycious

**LINK:** http:// www. fanfiction .net/s/3040483/1/

* * *

Lily was in tears and James was so shocked that he didn't even try to comfort her. Severus and Remus were shocked as well since they hadn't know exactly how Severus had become his father. Severus looked slightly ill, Raven supposed anyone would after being told he had raped his worst enemies wife. Raven knew Snape was a man with a long list of sins and some of the deeds the man had done was shocking and downright gross, but he also knew Snape only did what was necessarily to stay alive, as well as continuing spying to save lives. Neither did Raven doubt that Snape at some point had indeed enjoyed working for Voldemort, but that was then and in the past. It should be left that way, buried.

"Um, Dracula? Could you please check the Potters to be sure they're real, and not impostors?" Raven asked. He didn't trust Fudge and wouldn't put it past the man to try and trick everyone for the prospect of some publicity. Fudge was such a media whore. Lily screamed and jumped backwards when she heard what he said.

"Dracula?"

"It's alright... mum. He's my bonded father," Raven tried to sooth her, even if he was standing a several meters away with no intention to get any closer.

"We still need to discuss that," Snape murmured to him and sent him a glare that he simply ignored. He knew very well that Snape wanted to discuss that part.

"They are who they say they are," Dracula said after a moment. Lily went forward and hugged Raven. James did too before Remus or Severus could react. Raven too was too shocked to react to their touches.

"I still love you as my own son, you know. You're still my wife's child," James said to him while looking into his eyes. Raven was feeling extremely overwhelmed with everything. He had gone from an abused orphan to have tons of parents, friend and family. He didn't quite know what do to with himself.

"Too bad we ain't sharing," Remus snarled. Severus actually laughed when Remus said that. Raven too had to admit that it sounded funny.

"You've got a serious attitude problem Lupin!" Snape told him.

"Yeah, I've been with you too much lately," Remus shot back with a reply well worth a Slytherin.

"Oh please! You remind me of my mother and Ancius!" Draco Malfoy cut in; somehow he had gotten beside Dracula. It really was impossible to keep track on people inside this hall.

"Who are you? A friend of Ha-Raven?" Lily asked Draco. Draco glanced at Raven and Raven made a quick decision.

"Yes. He is a friend of mine. His name is Draco Malfoy." Draco seemed pretty dazed by hearing that, especially since Raven had been quite clear on his opinion of Draco on the train to the school. However, Draco had turned out to be a good person just like his father, and Raven wasn't one of those people who were unable to admit they had been wrong.

"Malfoy?" James asked sharply. He shook his head. "I can't believe all we've missed. Enemies are friends, what next?" he asked.

"Oh! I know! You were told Sirius died, right?" Raven asked. James and Lily nodded sadly. They had indeed been told about that and James looked like he would never truly be happy again.

"Well then, he's actually alive! He woke up from a coma two hours ago, isn't that right Narcissa?" Raven asked. Narcissa nodded with a smile.

"Sirius?" Remus asked and peaked up too. He hadn't been told what Blade and Raven's little rescue mission at the Ministry had been about.

"Yep!" Raven said and nodded happily. Everything was going his way. _About bloody time my rotten luck turned around, _he thought.

"Oh my god! _Another_ person to share you with! Fuck it that I love Sirius!" Remus said and everybody laughed.

"Black is back," Severus groaned and Draco sniggered.

"Sorry dad. Or no, I'm not!" Raven said with a grin.

"Shut up Cercis! I've just got some terrible news here!" Severus said dramatically. Snape could be quite funny when he wanted to, and despite what everyone thought he did indeed have humor. They just didn't understand that it presented itself through his sarcasm.

"Let's go to Malfoy Manor, Shall we?" Lucius asked when the atmosphere in the hall began to loose its focus and everyone was talking at the same time as everybody else.

Raven nodded gratefully. The volume was going to give him a headache if he continued to stay here.

"Yeah, Draco?" he asked and turned around to wait for the blonde to join his side.

"Coming!" Draco said quickly and ended his conversation with a vampire Raven didn't recognize.

Raven didn't let anyone but Remus go upstairs to visit Sirius. He didn't want to overwhelm his godfather. Raven waited downstairs with the rest because he wanted Remus to have some privacy. Soon they all heard a voice screaming: "I'll kill you Remus!" Raven looked up towards the roof.

"I think he hatched the egg," he commented dryly.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Well, he probably said that he wanted me by himself, that, or he said that he was together with Lucius," said Raven. Draco, James and Snape choked on their breaths. Raven couldn't decide which one looked funnier at the moment.

"What? But my mother!" Draco protested wildly.

"I am fine with it Draco. We do have wonderful triangles." Draco looked seriously ill.

"I didn't need that information!" he cried and went to the liquid cabinet and pureed himself a Lemon Vodka.

"Remus is gay?" James asked dazedly. He really didn't understand anything everything had changed lately. At least he wasn't angry anymore, he had almost given up trying to understand everything it was simply easier to go with the flow.

"He must be Bi, he certainly succeed in getting into me anyway," Narcissa said and Draco did a strange gag noise down his glass.

"Remus is bi sexual, indeed. The wolf inside him is gay, he is straight and together they make BI," Raven informed them logically. It made sense to everyone.

"My god Lucius! You choose Lupin? And he's bi? Oh my god, he's seen me naked!" Severus exclaimed. Raven raised an eyebrow at that.

"I don't want to know!" he said dryly and stalked off to join Draco for a drink.

"It wasn't like that!" Severus shouted behind him and Raven turned slightly green at the images his fantasy decided to pull out for him. He really hated himself sometimes; his dirty mind would never lay off on teasing him.

"Perverts all of them," Draco said darkly and glared at the adults over the rim of his glass.

"I agree," Raven said honestly and pulled a stiff drink for himself. It felt like he needed it right now.

"It's just plain yuck what my parents are doing!" Draco complained. "They're way to old for that shit!" He turned to Raven. "At least your father isn't admitting it!" he said.

"Have you ever had sex with Cho Chang?" Raven asked instead because he knew that he'd throw up if they talked more about his father's sex life. That was a road he didn't want to go down, ever.

"Um, no, why? Is she good?" Draco asked him curiously and sat down in a sofa. Raven joined his side.

"Nope. But she's funny. She does all those weird noises you know. I had to bit my lip to prevent myself from laughing."

"I thought you fancied her!"

"Nah, that was a couple of years back and I just enjoyed her looks. I found out what an idiot she was in my fifth year", Raven admitted with a shudder. Being with Cho had been a turbulent experience he never wanted to go thought again.

"Perhaps I should try her out", Draco said and Raven thought it was hard to tell whether he was serious or not. He decided to play along.

"Yes, do that! You'll be taking part in a comedian!" Draco grimaced.

"Have you ever fucked Granger?" Raven's eyes widened. He didn't understand why everyone was so curious about that!

"No! Why does everyone keep on asking that? Why is it so interesting to know if Hermione spread her legs for anyone?" he asked incredulous.

"Because she is a prude and a fucking know it all!" Draco exclaimed.

"Whatever Dray", Raven said and rolled his eyes. He didn't care about what Hermione did and did not do. "For as far as I'm concerned she's still a virgin. Not that I care."

"Oh I love virgins! I ought to try her out!" Raven glared at him.

"It was a joke, honestly! It would be disgusting to even be near her!" Draco said defensively.

"Sure, sure. I bet you've got the hots for her!" he teased, feeling at easy when he understood it was a joke even if he didn't quite agree with it.

"No way!" said Draco and looked seriously offended. Raven didn't really know what Draco's type was, he had never been into gossip and he had never heard anything about Draco dating at Hogwarts. Then again Draco could be hiding it.

"Fine, whatever. So do you like anyone at all?" He asked when he decided the easiest way to find out was to ask.

"Not really. I'm just looking for a fuck."

"I could talk to Jenna. She's good. I think you'd like her..." Raven said slowly and trailed off. He looked up when the grown ups were laughing about something away in their corner. He rolled his eyes. _Probably some pervert joke_, he thought.

"Who is she?"

"She's one from Dracula's lair."

"You know, during the questioning with Fudge you mentioned that you had a fuck partner..."

"Oh yeah. I do", he willingly agreed. He saw no reason in denying it and he wasn't embarrassed about it either. It was natural to him to have a sex partner.

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Faith, she's a vampire and real hot. She's awesome in bed," he said passionately. He really liked Faith as a friend, a very good friend in the sexual sense. Perhaps they didn't have so much in common in general, but that didn't matter in bed. They were both adventurous and liked to try out new things. Everything was good in that department.

"Vampires tend to be sexual and good in bed, or so I've heard."

"Oh really? Who told you that? No, let me guess. Ancius did, didn't he?" Raven asked with a knowing grin. Ancius was always very open talking about sex, and he often flaunted around what he had been up to in bed.

"Yes he did," Draco admitted.

"He should know. He fucks around wildly," Raven commented.

"I suspected that," said Draco dryly. He had heard quite a lot about his… well, what exactly was he? He wasn't an uncle anymore, grandpa? Draco shuddered at the thought and decided to sick to uncle anyhow. "It's a vampire trait, isn't it?" he repeatedly asked Raven.

"Yes it is. I sort of changed my view on sex when I got some vampire blood running through my veins from Dracula," Raven confessed. He hadn't told many people about that, but sex had almost become a drug to him since the change. It felt like getting high every time. It could be because the blood in the veins rushed though quicker, and that aroused the vampire. But that was only speculations on his side.

"What did you do then? Celebrate your new vision with orgies?"

"Not far from it." Raven smiled and thought back. It had been great times, lots of sex, blood and no sleep during the nights.

"Have you ever done it with a man? I did and it was wonderful. You ought to try it!" Draco said out of the blue.

"Uh, are you Bi?" he asked.

"Yes I am. You're cool with it right?" Draco asked worriedly. Raven nodded quickly.

"Sure. I just didn't expect it, and no I haven't done it with a man. It's not my style. So who did you do it with?" he asked curiously.

"Different guys, but you know Blaise, he was one of them."

"Zabini?"

"Yeah. That's the one. He's totally gay and he's quite good. The best one of the guys I've been with so far actually."

"Good for you. Now, I have to go see Sirius before he kills Remus or the other way around", Raven smiled and Draco nodded and laughed. They really felt like friends now, and Raven was happy to know that fact when he walked upstairs.

* * *


	21. Love Somebody

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* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER TWENTYONE-_**

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious

* * *

"Hey Harry," Sirius whispered when he entered the bedroom upstairs.

"Hello there Siri. How are you?" he said softly sitting down on a chair beside the bed. He couldn't see Remus anywhere, so he supposed the werewolf had stormed out of the room sometime when he had been on his way upstairs.

"I'm mad at Remus. He claimed you as his and Severus'," the animagus spoke sourly, pouting. Raven wasn't sure if Sirius was seriously mad, or simply trying to make him laugh. It was hard to tell sometimes, because Sirius reacted differently every time something happened, and Raven had rarely seen Sirius serious.

"Severus?" Raven said questionably. "I've never heard you use his first name before." Sirius laughed humorlessly and shrugged.

"I wish I could use the slimy bat's last name. I did at first but Remus' hexed me so I can only refer to S- Severus as Severus. Uh, you understand don't you?" Sirius said with a sigh when he stuttered and stumbled out Severus' name. Raven smirked.

"Yes. You can only call Snape Severus," he said. Sirius nodded.

"Alright. I guess now is a good time to tell you... James isn't my father." Sirius's eyes widened. The man opened his mouth and closed it several times before getting any sound out.

"You're kidding me?" he gasped. Raven was happy Sirius hadn't exploded again, like he had heard him to before. He was in no mood to take care of another outburst. Apparently Remus hadn't told Sirius about that part, since he could sense that Sirius was being honest by his reaction. Remus must simply have made it clear for Sirius that he had neither parental control nor access to Raven.

"Oh come on! Not even you can be that daft! Just look at me! I don't look anything like James in any kind of way. Severus is my father and Lily is my mother."

"What? I'LL KILL SEVERUS!" Sirius yelled. Raven laughed at him. It did sound pretty funny to him.

"That didn't sound threatening at all now that you can't use my father's surname!" He exclaimed and Sirius glared at him; Raven sobered quickly. He supposed he should consider his Godfather's feelings in all this, after all, he knew what a shock it was to first hear it.

"So… Do you hate me now?" He asked quietly. He wasn't a trusting person, and he had no illusions about anything. Many people he had thought were his friends had turned on him throughout the years, and he was used to the population switching back and forth between loving and hating him, just like a model switches clothes in a runway show.

"What?" Sirius asked and once again he seemed honestly surprised and perhaps a bit mortified over being indirectly accused for not loving him enough. "Of course not! I love you, you need to know that, forever. This doesn't stop me from wanting to beat the living daylights out of Severus, through," Sirius finished in a way that was typical for him. He really didn't like Severus, even if many simply though it was a matter of pretence. Raven rolled his eyes and decided it was better to get all secrets or rather, news, out at once.

"I'm also in a father-son bond with Dracula", he announced soberly. Sirius threw his head back and laughed loudly. He stopped abruptly and stared at him when he realized he was the only one laughing. The expression on Sirius's face would have been enough for Raven to normally be on the floor, screaming with laugher, but now wasn't the time. Sirius groaned loudly.

"You're really serious!"

"I thought you were," Raven grinned. "But yeah, I am" he agreed willingly. "I am also best friend with the WWUSAM's _(The Wizarding worlds united states of America ministry minister's ) _son Blade._"_ Sirius's jaw dropped. It wasn't a pretty sight. Raven paid no attention as he continued to inform Sirius of what he had been missing out on. "Lucius Malfoy isn't a Malfoy. His father is Ancius DeSilva and therefore Lucius is actually a DeSilva. I've got a vampire fuck buddy. I've killed Voldemort and my name is either Raven or Cercis," he explained. Sirius was stunned into silence and spaced out until Raven hit him in the head. Perhaps Raven wasn't presenting all this in the way he should, but he knew a playful and informal way worked better when handling Sirius rather than a formal and stiff conversation.

"Don't disappear on me! You haven't heard everything yet!" he said in a fake stern voice.

"There's more?" Sirius asked faintly.

"Yeah! Remus loves Lucius and he is together with Lucius, as in an actual relationship. Narcissa and Remus are apparently having a lovely sex life and all three are involved with each other," he said in mockingly in one breath.

"God!" Sirius croaked. "I think I'm going to be sick! I want **no **details about that relationship, what so ever!" he almost yelled. "Not under any circumstances!" he added hurriedly when Raven looked a bit playful. Raven took a good look at the man and Sirius did indeed look a little green.

"Fair enough," Raven said lightly. "Draco is bisexual and has fucked Blaise Zabini…" he said quickly when Sirius least expected it. He grinned when Sirius threw himself underneath the covers.

"Please! Are you trying to kill me?" Sirius whined from within his little cave.

"Nope."

"Seems like it! You give me all those very yucky mental images."

"Why? I can't help that you've got a dirty mind! Can't deal with gays and bisexual people?" he asked curiously. He knew Sirius could be slightly narrow-minded at times, but he viewed Sirius as a very open and social man, who didn't care much about ethnical background or social position, he didn't think that Sirius would be any less welcome to homosexuals.

"Of course I can!" Sirius frowned as he came out from the cover. "As long as no one describes the sex they have, I am not interested in that shit." Raven laughed at him. It was so ironic that Sirius responded in typical "straight dude way."

"I'll leave you for a bit", he said when it became apparent Sirius was both tired and needed some time alone to sort out hic chaotic mind after all the news.

* * *

Draco kissed him softly. His pink tongue licked his neck and he went down to his chest. Raven gasped when Draco bit down on his nipple. He began to bleed lightly but Draco licked it up in slow measured and sensual strokes. Raven trailed his hands up and down Draco's back. Draco was so soft and his pale skin was moon white. Draco went further down and licked Raven's tights. He realized he was being teased as Draco took his sweet time. Raven could feel Draco's erection against his side and he wriggled a little, he needed them to get in contact with each other. He moaned at the pleasure the friction of him moving brought on. Draco looked up at him and a smile graced his handsome face. He marveled how beautiful Draco looked in the soft moonlight coming from his window. Raven stroked a strand away from Draco's face. He rolled over so Draco was underneath him. He gasped at the sight of Draco's face and hair on the black silk pillow. It was perfect and laid surrounding Draco's face like a halo. Raven kissed the pink slightly parted lips. Draco moaned in his mouth.

"Raven, I want you," he whispered huskily and Raven's breath was caught at the very thought. Wordlessly he began to trail kisses down Draco's chest until he reached down to Draco's erection. Draco was so big Raven hurried licked the engorged member, making Draco wriggle and beg for more. Draco arched his hips up against Raven when Raven took him fully in his mouth. Raven could feel Draco tensing up, almost coming, and he reluctantly pulled away. Draco whined at the loss and Raven silenced him with a breathtaking and quite bruising kiss. Raven looked into Draco's half closed grey eyes when he paced one finger inside Draco to prepare him for what was to come. Draco bucked upwards with an expression of complete pleasure.

"More Raven!" he urged. Raven complied, adding another finger. He waited until Draco relaxed before he moved his fingers in and out and then adding a third finger. When the blond was ready, Raven looked up at his friend.

"Are you sure?" he asked hoarsely, his voice thick with lust. Draco nodded. Raven placed himself at Draco's entrance between the blonde's legs. He began to fill Draco slowly. He kissed Draco to prevent him from crying out. When he was sure that Draco was relaxed and had adjusted to him, he began to move slowly and carefully but soon he began to thrust franticly and Draco met him in every thrust until the blonde boy came with a cry of pleasure. Draco's convulsions made his walls tighten around Raven and after a few more thrusts Raven came as well.

Raven sat up in bed panting heavily. He had only just dreamt about…

"Aaaaah!" he screamed when he remembered. He quickly performed a spell to take away certain body fluids on his sheets. Draco, Dracula, Lucius, Lupin and Severus came rushing in. All the while Raven's was chanting 'I'm not gay, I'm not gay' in his head. It was certainly a huge shock for him to dream about this, it was the first time it had happened and he hoped it was the last time as well.

"Cercis! Are you alright?" his father asked him and touched his shoulder. He wanted to shout 'No' but he couldn't. He looked up at Severus when he felt himself being shaken.

"I'm not…" he whispered, sounding lost.

"Severus, step away," Dracula ordered. Severus did as told while Dracula looked into what was wrong with Cercis. Severus had learned by now that Dracula only had Cercis' best interest in mind. A strange look came upon Dracula's face and Draco noticed.

"Dracula? What is it?" Draco asked.

"Hum?" the vampire said as if he had only just woken up from a dream. "Oh, nothing that I can't take care of… Just a dream about… vampires… Please leave us." The others left, even if Dracula hadn't been very convincing, and neither of them really believed that Cercis had dreamt about vampires, not directly anyway.

"Raven? Would you like to talk about it?" Dracula asked once they were alone in the room.

Raven shook his head violently. He really did not want to talk about _anything_ surrounding the subject.

"You know that it will only get worse if you don't," said Dracula reasoned and took Raven in his arms. At first Raven didn't speak.

"Am I… Am I gay? Because I… dreamt about… you know?" he said in a whisper. He couldn't bring himself to say mention the name.

"About Draco? Maybe, not necessarily. Have you noticed that you like men before?"

"No," Raven said quickly. "And I have never dreamt about… a man... I like woman and now… now… I don't know!" he exclaimed frustrated. He couldn't deny that the dream about Draco had brought him pleasure, and it was alluring. He had never thought that possible before.

"I don't think you're gay. Everyone have crazy fantasies, it doesn't mean anything. Not everyone makes their fantasies come true in real life. Many people are happy with just having them as fantasies, and nothing more. Even if it does mean something, you may be bi or… well, does it really matter?" Dracula interrupted himself. He had never been a man to like labels on people and groups. It was easier to simply let everyone be themselves instead of living after certain rules and restrictions.

"When I was with him, I… I enjoyed it!" he said feebly as he tried to put words on his feelings. "I felt so alive and now I'm just so lost!"

"I'll call for Faith so you can spend the night with her and I'll tell her to bring Jedings so you can decide if you like men too…. then you can decide in the morning, okay?" Dracula asked. "That might put some things in perspective for you," he concluded. Raven thought it was a good idea, even if he felt slightly intimidated to spend the night with a man.

"Don't tell the others!" he pleaded.

"Of course not. Trust me on that," Dracula said as smoothly as ever and Raven knew the vampire wouldn't breath a word about it to anyone.

* * *

When Raven woke up in the morning Faith and Jedings were gone. He smiled when he thought back on last night. He never went further than blowjobs with Jedings. He understood right the way that it wasn't right for him. He didn't like men at all in that way. But he did fuck Faith. He whistled as he went down to breakfast in Malfoy Manor. He felt content and happy with his life. Everything was back to normal, and he loved it. When he came down he realized that Sirius had actually joined the table even if he looked a bit uneasy sitting among people he didn't like, as well as vampires.

"Good morning Raven. I take it that you figured it out?" Dracula asked him cryptically when he sat down. Raven smiled widely and grabbed a bowl of mixed fruits.

"Yeah. I'm not _that_. It was just something crazy for the moment. Just like you said." Dracula nodded.

"I thought so," he said knowingly.

"What are you talking about?" Severus asked them suspiciously.

"Oh nothing at all father," said Raven dismissively and smiled when he saw Sirius cringle.

He looked over at Draco and blushed suddenly when he remembered. Dracula snorted as he was downing his cup of blood.

"Oh shut up!" Raven said sourly. It only made Dracula laugh harder. But it got Raven thinking when Draco looked at him with beautiful confused grey eyes. Could he only be attracted to Draco? And not to any other man? _It's possible,_ his traitorous mind whispered to him as he forcefully stabbed a melon with his fork. _You shut up! _He told his mind sternly, and concentrated on the conversation flowing around him instead.

* * *


	22. Do something

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**_-CHAPTER TWENTYTWO-_**

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO:** www. /users/draycious

* * *

Sirius was slowly but steadily recovering and becoming his old self again as the days passed by, which was unfortunate for some people.

"Black!" Severus screamed so loudly so it echoed throughout the house. Raven looked up from his newspaper when his father came charging into the living room. He looked absolutely furious and it wasn't hard to guess what he was so infuriated about.

"Something wrong?" Draco asked innocently, looking at Severus Snape who had electric blue hair standing straight up on his head.

"Not at all, I'm just peachy," Severus drawled. Raven sniggered openly. His father did kind of look like a blue haired Einstein.

"That mutt has spent his very last day here! He's leaving!" Snape said angrily as he threw himself down in a chair in front of the only other adult in the room.

"Be reasonable Severus. He's not healthy enough to leave," Remus said calmly.

"Does it look like I care?" Severus sneered. "He's certainly well enough to annoy me!"

"Sev, he annoys you, period, even when he's dead," Draco pointed out and Severus glared at him. As it was; everyone was staying at Malfoy manor because everyone wanted to be wherever Raven was. They were also hiding away from the media, and Malfoy manor had some pretty handy wards helping them with keeping unwelcome journalists and photographers out.

"Maybe it's time to move, seeing as everybody is starting to get more or less restless," Dracula said from one corner of the room. No one had noticed him; it was a trait of the vampires to enter a room unnoticed. Raven wondered if Severus had any vampire ancestors after all, despite the mans denial.

"What do you have in mind?" Raven asked him, interested. He knew that his blood father, Dracula, had something exciting planned. Dracula always knew how to make everybody feel better.

"A vacation. We could go to the states."

"Sounds good to me," Raven said wondering if Dracula had some alter motive with going to the states but he wasn't about to question that now, it could wait until later. And perhaps there was no hidden motive at all, you never knew with Dracula. He just thought Dracula would have picked somewhere less crowded, like a hidden beach in Malaysia or something similar.

"Draco, spread the word around, would you?" he asked the blonde.

"Sure," Draco agreed easily.

"I'll go talk to James and Lily," Raven volunteered and went but he paused in the doorway.

"I love your new hair color Sev," he said with a smirk on his lips, and left the room quickly with Severus cursing loudly behind him.

* * *

"James, Lily?" he asked and knocked on their door. He really hoped they didn't do something he'd rather not think about in there. He wasn't comfortable with them yet, but it was getting easier to see them each time. He really wanted to form some sort of relationship with them, even if it would just be a friendship.

"Raven?" James asked opening the door and letting him in.

"Yeah, hi," he said. Even if he was still not at ease with his parents he hid it well so he wouldn't hurt anybody, and he thought that Dracula and perhaps Blade were the only ones who knew what he really felt. He tried to act as normal as possible when he was together with James. It wasn't easy, but he was a good actor.

"Who is it James?" his mother's voice asked from inside the bathroom.

"Our son," James responded immediately as if he wanted to make a point of some sort, that perhaps they wanted Raven as their own son like it was first intended or something like that. Raven decided to ignore that input, since he wanted nothing to do with it. Lily came out and joined them. She embraced him in a hug and kissed his forehead gently.. It took all his self control not to stiffen up. He had still a touching issue to deal with.

"Are you here for a visit?" she asked him excitedly.

"Uh, not really", he confessed, immediately feeling a bit bad about it. He had kind of avoided them, because he didn't know what to say and he didn't like forced and stiff conversations anymore than Sirius did.

"Oh," she said and her smile faltered slightly in disappointment before she quickly pulled herself together again. "So what are you up to now then? Are you hiding from Severus? I thought I heard his voice…" she said bravely and tried to bring the conversation on to a more neutral ground.

"Yeah, well," he said with a sigh. "Sirius is responsible for all this madness."

"What did he do?" James asked curiously with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't give him any ideas Harry!" she warned him.

"Who, me? Never!" he said innocently but he frowned slightly at the use of his old name. He didn't like it and he had thought he had been clear on the point that he didn't want people calling him that. Then again he could understand it would take them a while to make the transition. People around him still slipped up sometimes, even if it became more seldom as the days went by. He was very thankful for that. He wanted to leave the "Harry period" behind him, since it hadn't been a good time for him back then.

"So what did he do?" James asked impatiently.

"Turned da-Severus hair blue," he said and intentionally changed from saying dad to Severus because James always looked so hurt when he called Sev dad.

"Really?" James asked with a huge grin in place.

"Yes."

"You're **not** going to do one single prank mister!" his mother told James sternly, her hands on her hips.

"Of course not sweetheart," said James hurriedly. Lily frowned and returned to the bathroom to finish her makeup. James blinked to Raven.

"Sirius got away?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes, he's hiding somewhere. I have no clue where though." he said with a shrug.

"What are you two whispering about?" Lily yelled from the bathroom, suspicious of them.

"Nothing sweetheart," James responded dutifully. Raven grinned. Lily really had control over James' childish side. _He is so whipped, _Raven thought with a mental laugh.

"You said you weren't here just to visit us", James said questioning.

"Indeed, no. I am the bringer of good news; we're going on vacation to USA. Want to come with us?" he asked.

"Who's us?" James asked immediately and crossed his arms. He didn't look mad or anything, just plain curious. Raven knew the Potters would join him no matter where he went and who he went with.

"Everyone I think. All I know for sure is that Draco, Lucius, Remus, Dracula and I are going…" he paused. "And Severus of course," he added, knowing that would do the trick since the men were competing over him and neither wanted the other to be alone with him for more than brief moments, if that.

"I'm going!" James said quickly; he almost didn't let Raven finish the name 'Severus'.

Raven grinned. Bingo, he thought. He really wanted everyone to come with him. He thought everyone could get to know each other better.

"Wonderful!" he said and meant it.

"What's wonderful?" Lily asked when she re-entered.

"We're going to the US," James told her.

"Oh? That's going to be fun! When are we leaving?" she asked upbeat and looked at James. Raven had expected her to at least have something to say in the matter. Lily seemed like a woman who enjoyed control, and now she just went with the flow.

"Er…" James said and realized he didn't know anything about the trip at all. He turned to Raven.

"I don't know. As soon as possible, as to where we're going… I have no idea. Let's go and ask Dracula. It was his idea in the first place," he said almost carelessly. He was surrounded by friends and family which were economically independent, and they were among the richest people in the world. Whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted and however they wanted it, didn't matter. Everything was possible. Raven's growing fame was also a bonus which opened up unique opportunities for him. Yet all he really cared about was his family, and having a good time. If it came on the expense of millions, he didn't care as long as everyone was happy.

"Alright, let's go now. I think it's safe, I can't hear Severus' yelling anymore." Lily said humorously.

* * *

Raven noticed Sirius sitting on a chair in the living room as far away as possible from Severus when they came down. By now Severus had managed to reverse the spell and Raven noticed that James looked slightly disappointed at that. Raven carefully made sure not to sit with either of the people conflicting over him so he sat down beside Draco even if there really was no space left for him so he was forced to practically sit in Draco's lap. But Draco didn't protest because he knew what Raven tried to create/do. One again Dracula snorted, but this time Raven ignored his highly irritating blood father.

"Have you guys decided destination yet?" he asked Draco. The blonde shook his head. "Dracula?" Raven asked.

"I think Ancius has an idea," Dracula said calmly. The whole room groaned and Ancius put on an offended look even if everyone knew he was amused deep down. He didn't take offence to what his friends and family did around him.

"I thought we could go to Miami," he announced. Everyone stared.

"You know, that's probably the first time you've ever said something that actually made sense!" Midnight spoke.

"I second that!" Lucius said with astonishment.

"I can see you've got plenty of faith in me," Ancius drawled sarcasm heavily lacing his voice. At that moment everyone could see the clear resemblance between Lucius and him. Raven thought everyone thanked God that Lucius hadn't turned out to be quite the trouble maker as Ancius, even if he wasn't far behind with his death eater past and whatnot.

"Considering everything you've been up to you should be grateful for even the slightest bit of faith we have in you," Fire stated and Ancius glared at him. Dracula decided to step in before a vampire fight broke out.

"Does everyone agree on this suggestion?" he asked and looked around. Everyone nodded. They thought it was a fair enough suggestion, it would even involve beaches and sunbathing, even if they wouldn't end up at any exotic beach in the Caribbean. The good thing about it was that they wouldn't have the trouble with conversing with people, since most of them only spoke English and not… well, whatever the languages could be in exotic spots.

"Then it's settled. We're going to Miami. _Tomorrow_," Dracula said and the women (Narcissa and Lily) squeaked and ran off to pack.

* * *


	23. Talk

**

* * *

**

**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE-**_

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO: **www. liverjournal. com/ users/ draycious

**LINK: _http:// www . /s/3040483/1/_**

**NOTE:** NEED MORE BETA READERS! Contact me...

* * *

"Hey Blade!" 

"Hi Raven!" Blade said and turned around and waited for him to catch up. They were just outside the manor. They were both out on a little walk before dinner since the manor could no longer be considered as safe. Severus had finally decided to get revenge on Sirius for his pranks he'd pulled earlier. Since things would probably get ugly they had both decided to clear out for an hour or so before returning.. Draco and his father had taken a hiding place up in the attic and the rest of the people, well, just let's say that they weren't anywhere near Sirius or Severus at the moment. No one desired to get caught in the crossfire.

"Severus is really irked," Blade commented when he got into hearing range. Raven nodded.

"Yeah, tell me about it! But at least it's a sign that Siri's better. But right now I don't know what I prefer," he said darkly, glancing back at the manor.

"I follow you, a sick Sirius and quiet house or a healthy one and madness… no, scratch that. Chaos is the word for it!" Blade said and threw his head to the side in an impatient manner. Raven noticed that Blade's dark hair had grown, and was starting to fall in his eyes in the most irritating way possible.

"All due, it's rather fun to see my dad getting pranked, the first ten times," he admitted with a small smile playing on his red luscious lips. He watched how Blade gave up the fight with his hair, which despite a several attempts still remained in his eyes.

"Yes but thirty times, that that's just pushing it too far. I mean, he's driving me crazy!" Blade said. "It is thirty now, isn't it?" he asked in a less forceful voice.

"No, it's thirty-two. But I'm not sure about what's happened since I left the house…" Raven said and shook his head slightly. It was kind of scary to see someone older than yourself behaving like a kid, especially when that someone happened to be his godfather, and also his father.. Blade sat down on a park bench and motioned for Raven to sit down next to him. Blade slide slightly closer to him once Raven had sat down.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Blade asked.

"Sure!" Raven said and leaned forward, eager to hear what was on Blade's mind.

"I think James's is giving Sirius's some ideas for the pranks."

"Noooo!" said Raven in mock horror. Blade laughed.

"Seriously, I do. I saw the two of them whispering in the kitchen right before the mixer decided to spit out its entire contents on Severus... I swear that was James's idea!"

"It's possible," Raven agreed willingly. It was very possible indeed. "But Lily is keeping her eyes on James. You should hear them!" he said, rolling his eyes. Blade laughed a bit more.

"No thanks, I've already had the pleasure to witness the '_you-do-a-prank-and-I'll-kill-you'_ conversation!" Raven rolled his eyes again and leaned back. Then he sobered.

"It feels like we haven't been able to talk all that much lately. I've been with other people and I want to tell you how sorry I am, I never meant to neglect you. I love you, you know that right?" he asked seriously with big sorrowful eyes. His eye color was intense; a deep, deep green.

"Oh Raven!" Blade said and rolled his eyes at Raven's display of affection, even if Raven knew Blade appreciated it. "Don't worry about it! I'm fine and it's not like I haven't seen you around. You've been in the house with me, you haven't been avoiding me. There's been a lot going on and it's been quite a change for you, with new people coming into your life when you've spent so many years alone and on your own. It ought to be at least a bit overwhelming. I can understand that. Besides, I've never been one to beat around the bush. If I wanted to talk to you, or if I've noticed you avoiding me I would have cornered you somewhere and question you about it, whether you'd like it or not," Blade said and his green eyes shone happily. Raven remembered how put out Draco had been when he had first met Blade and his father Scarce. Draco had been jealous because he had no longer been unique. Scarce and Blade having the same stunning natural shiny black hair and they we're both copies of each other just like Draco and Lucius. You could say Blade and Scarce were darker versions of the Malfoy's.

"Wanna know another secret?" Blade asked and Raven rolled his eyes and leaned forward again so they were real close even if there was no need for it since no one was anywhere near them for the moment.

"What now? Remus had been in on it too?" he drawled.

"No. But we're going to be joined on our trip."

"What?" he asked surprised. "By who?"

"Orlando, Zander, Mary and Mia."

"My, my! Our little vampire friends," he said with a smirk and looked over his shoulder towards the manor. He wondered what the others would think about that.

"You're sure the others won't die in a heart attack? They can only take oh so much you know, and with them already being surrounded by other vampires… I couldn't help but notice how jumpy some of them are…" he joked and Blade laughed at that, because he had noticed it too. "And they haven't even overcome mine Dracula's and special relationship. I think the knowledge of me having some vampire blood in me is freaking them out, even if they pretend it's nothing. I'm not talking of Draco and his family about that matter of course, because they're so used to Ancius and his friends that they think it's natural. Lucius is a half vampire as well, go figure…" Blade nodded. He leaned forward and whispered in Raven ear.

"You know, Rafael is coming too," he said.

"Oh," said Raven and looked a little startled. "Who's watching the castle then?" he blurted out. Blade shrugged and didn't look overly concerned about that.

"You know, we spoke about you and me not talking earlier… but I couldn't help but notice…" Blade said and brushed away a strand of Raven's hair behind his ear.

"What?" Raven asked and suppressed a shudder at the movement.

"You still won't let other people touch you. I thought that perhaps you had overcome it by now."

"It's not that easy," Raven said defensively in a quiet voice.

"And yet you have no problems with Draco touching you," Blade said with a slight cold in his voice. Raven's eyes widened.

"I do too!" he protested before he realized how ridiculous that objection was. Blade raised and eyebrow.

"Are you fucking him?" he asked bluntly. Raven drew back in shock. What was going on here?!

"NO! I'm not even gay!" he said angrily and a bit reserved.

"That's why you were fucking a man the other night?" Blade threw at him scathingly. Raven scowled deeply and hid his hurt. He didn't understand why Blade would jump at him like this.

"I did not!" Blade glared at him and right then and there Raven felt like he had been sucked into an alternative world or something. The whole situation felt so surreal and he didn't understand why Blade was acting this way.

"Do you think I'm some American idiot? I thought you were supposed to tell me when you got a crush on someone! I know you've got the hots for Draco. It's fucking obvious. You blush whenever he looks at you. The others might not see it but I do!"

"I'm not having a crush on Draco, and even if I did, what's it to you?" he yelled and stood up. Raven had enough of those accusations. He didn't need to sit there and just take it. Blade caught his wrist and refused to let go. To be truthful it hurt quite a lot but he refused to show it to Blade.

"This isn't just some fucking childish argument about you not telling me, even through I'm a bit hurt over that fact, I don't blame you for not informing me immediately. But you know just as well as I do what you're capable of doing when you're feeling trapped, or do I have to remind you what happened when you were about to have sex with that girl, whatever her name was? You almost killed her! You can't go into a sexual relationship with someone who isn't immortal, not yet. You're not ready. I've been working with you for several months now, and I've managed to make you able to hug some chosen people, and you're improving everyday. But quite frankly you're not trustworthy when it comes to physical contact. I let you be with immortals because you can't kill them when you begin to fight, but I won't stand by and watch you hurt someone you love just because you freak out!" Blade yelled at him.

"I do not love him!" he yelled and threw his hands up in the air. It was so frustrating that Blade refused to take his words for it. "I don't understand what you want me to say other than that! I do not want him; I do not want to have sex with him! You've fucking lost it Blade!" he screamed and wrenched his wrist loose. He stormed away from Blade.

"You're in denial Raven! And once you get your fucking mind around it, seek me out!" Blade's voice yelled behind him. He put up his hand over his shoulder and gave him a rude finger.

* * *

Raven was still seething with rage when he slammed his door to his room inside the manor. He hadn't seen anybody on his way up there and perhaps it was for the best. Who the hell did Blade think he was? He had no right to accuse him for being in love with Draco.

_But he's right, _a small voice inside his head spoke.

"Fuck off!" he screamed out in the room. He didn't want to deal with any of this shit right now. He grabbed a chair and threw it out the window. The glass broke but he didn't care. He was too angry to even notice Dracula entering the room. He picked up one of the glass bites and cut himself in the arm. He had finally lost it. The feelings of despair and hopelessness had been nagging him for quite some time now, every day since he had been caught between Remus and Severus at Hogwarts right before he went to the hospital. That terrible fear he had felt, he could still feel it inside him. He was terrified. He didn't want to be trapped like that in his own mind, and he didn't want to feel the hollow space he knew was there. Blade had been the only one who had stopped him from reaching out and killing Remus and Severus back that day. Blade was the only one who _could_ stop him. But what would happen to him if Blade wasn't there the next time it happened?

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	24. Dracula's suggestion

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**-CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR-**_

**BETA:** Tammy Brown

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users/Draycious

**LINK: **http//www. fanfiction. net/s/2562885/1/

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"Are you happy with yourself now?" A voice said behind him and startled him greatly. He whipped around and came face to face with Dracula. 

"What?" he cried out both shocked and angry while trying to hide his now freely bleeding arm behind his back.

"There's no use for that," Dracula said calmly, seeing his movement. "I can smell the blood, I'm a vampire after all," he said and smiled ironically. Raven stared incuriously. He had waited for a reprimand to come, he never expected Dracula to be so cool about it. Dracula stood there, ever so black and tall, just looking at him with an ironic and cold smile. He hadn't expected to ever see that look directed at him. He was very confused by the reaction and didn't quite know what to do with himself.

"What? I can hear no words coming from you, and hell knows your lips are almost always flapping," Dracula said and rolled his eyes. Now Raven became seriously freaked out. What the hell was going on? Was he dreaming or… no, he couldn't be dreaming, not with that bitchy pain in his arm.

"Are you just going to stand there?" he asked once he had found his words. The question sounded ridiculous even in his eyes, and seeing Dracula's ironic smile widen he knew he had fucked up.

"What do you want me to do? Stop your bleeding? Oh I can do that, the question is if you'll learn something from that… isn't it better if I just let you bleed, letting you take care of your own mess?" Dracula asked with his eyebrows raised, other than that he showed no emotions and his face was impossible to read. He didn't move, he simply stood there right inside the door. Raven didn't move either, other than squirming slightly on the spot.

"I… I…" he stammered and didn't feel so big and mighty any longer. He was a confidant person, but he was in the middle of a break down and couldn't quite pull himself together at the moment.

"But then again you might bleed to death…but maybe that's good… Then I have a good reason for turning you and none of those humans can blame me for it…. What say you?"

"Er… are you feeling alright? Because I'm not and if you wouldn't mind…" he said and trailed off. Then he snapped. "Either heal me or leave me the fuck alone so I can think!" he shouted. Irrationally enough he was starting to get angry with Dracula. Even if it wasn't everyday you cut yourself and had your blood father Dracula just standing there weighting the options whether to kill you or not, he shouldn't be mad at Dracula because he had done nothing wrong. In the end it was his own fault.

Dracula heaved a great sigh and walked over and leaned down slightly so he could take a good look at the wound. For a while it seemed liked Dracula would actually lick the blood but he seemed to restrain himself from doing it. He used his fingers to heal the wound, it tingled and it felt warm but other than that Raven could feel nothing. It didn't hurt or such. All in all it was quite a nice feeling. Protective almost.

"You do know that you nee some serious anger management, right? I would suggest therapy," Dracula said once he had finished up. "You have too much on your mind and you've had that for a very long time. I know about your problems and even through you're improving with Blade's help it's moving on to slow. You need help and you need it fast in order to sort yourself out before you do something worse than this." Dracula seemed to regress the situation for a moment. "This was a spontaneous act, next time it might be a planned out suicide. You don't want that and neither do I. Due to those certain circumstances I'm going to suggest a new method of therapy that I wasn't willing to let you know about before because it's a tiring process for your mind and you might even feel physically ill," Dracula said and paused for effect. He let Raven know he was dead serious about this, whatever it was. Dracula continued when he was sure he had all of Raven's attention. "What I'm talking about is that I'm willing to look into your memories like I've done in the sessions we've had before, but this time unlike the other times I'll help you see and analyze those memories from a different angle in order to help you come away from those captivating and haywire feelings you're projecting all around you. What do you think about that?" Raven had listened as if enchanted to every word Dracula had spoken. He shook himself to get out of his daze.

"Alright… What do I tell the others?" He agreed willingly, but a bit helplessly. He wasn't sure what to expect.

"Why tell them at all? They don't need to know about this." Dracula said with a little smirk, very typical him.

Raven thought it through quickly. "Fine then," he agreed. "When do we start?" he asked and crossed his arms.

"You need help as soon as possible, _obviously,_" Dracula said dryly and Raven gave him a halfhearted glare. "We might as well start now. The process of going through your memories might seem like an long term project but in truth we can get through half your life in four hours."

"How's that possible?" He asked astonished and sat down when Dracula mentioned for him to do that.

"I am a vampire," Dracula said and looked at him as if he were stupid for even asking.

"No shit," Raven couldn't refrain from saying as he rolled his eyes. Dracula only inclined his head slightly but otherwise he ignored it. "I can move with an incredible speed with my body, but my mind is even faster."

"But is my mind able to keep up with that speed isn't it dangerous?" Raven asked anxiously. This way felt way too easy to be true. Dracula actually laughed at him. Although, it was perhaps a bit dry and sarcastic laugh that he mustered.

"You are my heir and blood child after all, don't you think a child of mine would be able to master the speed? Now that's a laugh," Dracula said. Then he turned serious. "Even if you hadn't been my blood child I wouldn't be surprised if you had been able to master it anyway. You're a very powerful person and therefore very dangerous. Especially if disturbed in anyway."

"Gee thanks," He said dryly. Dracula made him sound like a mental patient on the run and he didn't like that image in his head. He was through with people thinking he was insane, it was in is past and he didn't want to deal with any of that ever again.

"Let's begin," said Dracula and took Ravens head in his hands and looked him straight in the eye. Raven found himself tumbling downwards towards the depths, which seemed endless in those dark eyes. He started to relax after he had reached a dark place filled of shadows.

"That's right, relax," a voice told him. It was a deep, rich and silky voice, almost spinning who began to give him instructions. It was very persuasive and he found himself willing to obey everything he was told.

"Look around you," the dark voice continued. "What do you see?"

He was going to answer when he heard a new voice, but it seemed so very far away, almost miles away.

"What are you doing?" the outraged voice of Sirius Black said.

* * *

**NOTES:** Well, I think I have to explain the attitude in this chapter. I've read a lot of fan fictions with a suicidal Harry Potter and I've seen all the adults react strongly and violently, which is normal of course. The thing is that this time I wanted it to be different. I didn't want the person who found Harry to be freaked out. So the natural choice was Dracula. Dracula wouldn't freak out. He's old, wise and powerful and he's got the gift to heal wounds. Why would he freak out? Blood is his meal for God's sake! I saw this as an opportunity to experiment with the characters and hopefully make something original out of it. I'm not sure it worked, but it might get better in future chapters. Also, isn't a cool Dracula better than perhaps, an hysterical Hermione Granger? Anyway, until next time. 

_**/ Pure Black**_

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	25. No Name

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER **

_**-CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE-**_

**BETA:** Green eyes

**INFO:** www. livejournal. com /users /draycious

**LINK:** http//www. fanfiction. net /s/2562885/1/

* * *

"What the hell are you doing with my godson?" Sirius yelled as stormed into the room absolutely furious and pushed Dracula hard enough that he almost toppled over. Raven looked around groggily. What the hell was going on? His world felt extremely wobbly, and he was disoriented.

"You fool!" Dracula hissed at Sirius. With a quick motion of his hand Sirius went flying across the room and hit the wall. He fell in an undignified heap remained laying there, unmoving. Dracula turned back to Raven and grabbed his head, looking into the green eyes.

"Raven, can you hear me?" he asked briskly, with a little hint of fear in his voice. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He had been disconnected and lost control over Raven's mind.

"Hmmm," Raven mumbled. The shouting on Sirius's side had captured the other's house guest's interest and they came rushing into the room, ready to fight if something was wrong.

"Stand back!" Dracula said in a demanding voice when they all fell through the door in a heap.

"We better do as he says," Blade said quickly and tried to hold Severus back from running to his son. Blade knew those vampires, and he had quickly scanned the room to take in the situation. Apparently Black had made yet another scene, and by looks he had interrupted something very important. Blade realized he'd better leave this mess to Dracula's very competent hands. Instead of helping they all stared at Raven.

"He looks drugged," Draco remarked. Dracula looked over his shoulder.

"He isn't and he would have been fine if _the dog _hadn't pushed me away from Raven while I had him in my willpower." Remus put a spell on Sirius to wake him up and helped him onto his feet.

"What the fuck did you do that for!" Sirius screamed at Dracula.

"You shouldn't have pushed me in the first place!" Dracula responded, this time without looking away from Raven. Blade looked a bit guilty, he thought and even felt that he might have had a little something to do with Raven's current state of mind, and in a way he was right.

"What were you doing with Raven in the _first place_?" Sirius spat out with a fire that only he could. Dracula ignored him but the other's curiosity had been awakened with Sirius's question.

"What were you doing with him Dracula, that made Sirius react this way?" Remus asked calmly but not without a dangerous undertone. He was a werewolf, and as such he felt very protective towards what he considered his family. The animal within wanted to act, and the only reason that kept him from lashing out at Dracula was because the human in him exercised great control over the animal.

"I can't explain it so you all would understand. All I can think of to compare it to is occlumency. This is not dangerous, or shouldn't be unless you are interrupted, _which we were_. Why we did it in the first place I will not reveal since that is between Raven and I. However, I can assure you that I would never do anything to harm Raven, he too is my son after all."

Most of the gathered people nodded but a few looked a little bit skeptical, Sirius was included in that last group of course.

"What happened to him when Sirius broke your contact?" Lily asked and Sirius glared at her. She only glared right back and said nothing to him. She blamed the her husbands rash friend for her son's state.

"I took Raven to a special place within his mind. When Sirius pushed me away I lost contact with him and since I was his guide in that place he can not get back from there."

"But you can fix it, right?" Lily asked anxiously. It was her son after all, even if she did not know him as well as she would like too. Dracula frowned in frustration.

"**Yes**, I _can _fix it if only I can get a quiet moment around here," he said and directed it to everyone. Silence immediately fell upon the room and no one asked any more questions even through they might have liked to. Dracula murmured some well chosen words to Raven sometimes but since they were not directed to the crowd they were spoken so quietly that even Remus couldn't hear it despite his exceptional hearing. What they all could see was how Raven stopped looking so drugged; he looked more like he was in a normal trance, if such a thing existed. Slowly but steadily Dracula drew Raven back to the current time. Raven blinked and looked around the room.

"What the fuck happened, and who dared interrupt us?" he burst out.

"Er, I did. I thought he was doing something funny to you," Sirius confessed sheepishly. Raven rolled his eyes.

"Trust you to come barging in and destroy everything." He frowned. "But I love you anyway," he hastily added when he saw Sirius hanging his head. Sirius looked up and gave him a bright smile. Raven looked around once again and his gaze stilled on Blade. He gave him a hard glare.

"You," he said slowly, letting the word roll out slowly and dangerously on his tongue. He walked towards Blade in a stalking way, almost like an animal who had spotted its prey and that were now playing with it before eating it. Blade didn't seem faced with his advances and stared back at him defiantly. Out of nowhere Raven's pounced and went sailing through the air and hit Blade in the back of his head with his foot. The crowd parted with some startled yells. Blade rolled onto his feet quickly despite the ache in his head. Blade blocked the next blow thrown his way. By now the adults tried to stop the fight but they were unsuccessful. Whenever Raven had something in mind, he was determined to get through with it and nothing could stop him. Right now his target happened to be Blade.

"Let them be!" Dracula yelled over the commotion in the room.

"They are _fighting _Dracula!" Lily hissed like an angry cat. "We have to stop them. Someone's going to get hurt!"

"Oh, let them be! They're only playing; they need to get rid of some steam," Dracula said easily. The others looked at him incredulously.

"You can't be serious! Just look at them! That is for real man!" Draco shouted. Dracula shrugged.

"Don't worry, I will look after them. Now there, off you go. Chop, chop!" Dracula said and began to physically remove them all from the room before they could even comprehend what was happening. Then he proceeded to slam the door in their faces and lock it with his own special magic so the people outside would not be able to break through. Dracula turned around and watched the fight with amusement. He knew it was for real, but he also knew that they both needed it to be able to move on with their relationship. As things were looking right now, their friendship would crumble to dust if they didn't sort it out. Dracula knew that what they both needed was some serious ass kicking from each other, and then they would be fine again. It was the typical male bonding. _Knock 'em down, love them more_, was the motto.

Raven had managed to get Blade onto the floor with another nasty blow to the head and began to use the almost unconscious Blade as a human punching bag and he did not hold back the strength in his blows either. He was pissed off for real. Dracula cleared his throat after a while.

"Raven, unless you wish to kill your friend here and now I suggest you stop punching him this second. He is not immortal as the rest of us you know," he said dryly. Raven seemed to actually listen to him and with one final blow he stood up and dried his bloodied hands on his jeans.

"I needed that," he said quietly. Dracula nodded.

"I know you did," he said soothingly.

"He will be alright," Raven said tonelessly and looked at the heap, which was also known as Blade. He turned his emotional less face towards Dracula. "I think I need that memory sorting now, he will be out for a while."

Dracula nodded seriously. Raven really did need his help, now more than ever. He needed to get some balance in his life, tomorrow they would leave for the U.S. and they would not have time for this then. Raven also needed to have a serious conversation with Blade. They needed to sort things out, first their own tribulations, and then the problems they had together. The first step was taken; they had fought about it, now it was time to talk. Dracula would be there to make sure they got over things. He would look after them. After that, who knew, maybe they could finally move on with their lives and live it like the young men they were.

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	26. Ex

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**-CHAPTER TWENTY SIX-**

**BETA:** Hannah

**INFO: **www. livejournal. com /users /draycious

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Raven sighed contently in his blanket a couple of hours later. Dracula had looked through his memories and they had sorted them out together. He had never felt as calm and content as he did now. He was finally at peace with himself, no nerves or tension were left in his body. Finally! The point where they had actually been analysing his memories had been extremely hard on him and he didn't like talking about it. It was over now and he saw no reason to bring it up again, ever.

Dracula had put him to sleep by holding him and rocking him gently in the aftermath where he had actually cried. It had been too many emotions to deal with at the same time and he couldn't handle it as well as he used to. So he let it all out, to get it out of his system. He knew that Dracula had taken good care of Blade and he knew he would heal up nicely. He was still pissed at Blade but now the worst was over, he actually felt a bit overcome, and he didn't understand Blades attitude to him that he had had recently. He also didn't understand what the real problem was. In his opinion it was Blade who had gone nuts and not him. He hoped he would get closure soon.

He stretched and rolled over to his back. He met Dracula's watchful eyes.

"Hi," he said tiredly.

"Hello son, how are you?" Dracula asked and kissed his forehead.

"I'm fine now," he said honestly and Dracula nodded. He knew he would be, he was just making sure. Raven sat up and looked around him with sleepy eyes.

"Where is everybody" he asked curiously. He couldn't see anyone nor hear any sounds at all.

"I think I've scared them away," said Dracula with a satisfied smile. Raven raised his eyebrow in question.

"I threw them out and locked the door and used silencing spells to ensure your sleep would be undisturbed if you really must know," Dracula admitted reluctantly. Raven laughed. Dracula was so funny with his dry comment sometimes. It reminded him a lot of his father Severus. They both cared a great deal about him, but neither liked to admit they fussed over him.

"Where's Blade then?" he asked.

"He is with his father. He should be alright now, he's probably resting like you."

"Well I've rested enough" Raven said and tried to get out of the bed but Dracula stopped him with a gesture.

"Not yet," he said gently. "First I need to check your mind. I need to make sure that I didn't break any of your occlumency shields," he explained and Raven nodded. He could see the sense in that. Dracula used his own kind of magic to perform something similar to legilimency(sp?) on him. After a few attacks Dracula was satisfied with his results, or rather lack there of.

"Very good Raven," he said and Raven appreciated the simple praise. "You're still keeping it up. I like that." Raven flashed a smile at the vampire.

"You know what? I really am good," he said agreeably with a self satisfied smirk. Dracula snorted.

"Sure child," he replied.

Raven was finally allowed to get out of the bed. He took a quick shower while Dracula waited for him in the bedroom. He came out dressed only in a towel and dropped it in front of Dracula without any sort of embarrassment. Dracula didn't seem to mind, he took it in a natural stride just like Raven did. Raven dressed quickly and dried his hair sloppily. He had never been much for styling or anything. He simply let things be the way they were.

"Ready?" Dracula asked and Raven nodded. It was time to face the music. Dracula opened the door and they stepped out. Raven was surprised to see that everyone in the house accept for Blade and his father sat on the floor in the corridor waiting for them.

"Raven," Severus said and hugged him, then he pulled back and looked him over to make sure he was fine while the others tried to grab him and do the same. Remus who didn't yet know that he could now days stand touching without panicking began to fend everyone off like the protective werewolf he was.

"I'm fine, really" he told everyone. He then looked at Dracula pleadingly and Dracula took over the situation and formed it like he wanted it to be. He managed to get everyone downstairs and seated. He then proceeded to tell them what he had been doing with Raven but he didn't mention why he had decided to do it in the first place. That was very personal for Raven and even though most of the people were family and everyone was friends Dracula still felt that it was something that Raven should tell everyone only when he wished for them to know. It wasn't important anymore anyways, they had taken away any suicidal tendencies that Raven might have had. Instead Dracula told everyone that Raven could now touch anyone without any problems if he chose to do so. Everyone cheered for that and then a hug party broke loose and Raven found himself pulled into more arms than he ever had been in during his entire life. Still the thought of Blade nagged into his mind. How would they both react when they next saw each other? He decided to go and find out.

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	27. Chapter 27

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

_**CHAPTER 27**_

**BETA: **I need one, email me!

**INFO: **www. live journal. com /draycious

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Raven walked towards Blade's room with quick strides. He wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible. At the moment he wouldn't even demand an explanation regarding Blade's recent behaviour. He would happily let it go if only everything turned back to what it was before. He did not understand females need for "talking things through". He didn't suppose any guy did, not really. As he walked through the big halls with the shiny floors he was seriously considering asking Dracula to fend off their vampire friends. Perhaps what they all needed was some family time with only the closest circle near. Even Midnight and Fire would have to return to Dracula's lair. After all, the humans were still uneasy around the undead, and with Dracula being his usual eccentric self he was more then enough for everyone to handle, not to mention Ancious! He nodded to himself as he turned the corner. He would talk to everyone after he had spoken to Blade. He was sure the vampires would understand his decision and wouldn't be offended.

He stopped outside Blade's door and took a deep breath before entering. He was prepared to duck, just in case something would come flying, aimed at his head but everything was silent and still.

"Hello Raven," a voice said and Raven blanched. He most certainly knew who that voice belonged to, and he sincerely hoped he wasn't in trouble with said person. He turned his head to the left side slowly, and met the unreadable eyes of Scarce. Raven bit his lip. "Go on then, don't just stand there. Take a seat," Scarce ordered and pointed at a seat near the bed, which Raven realised Blade was sleeping in. He walked over and sat down gracefully, but kept his attention towards Scarce at all times. He was honestly expecting to be at the very least hexed for what he had done to the mans son. He couldn't say he felt any regret or sorrow for what he has done, but he did find it slightly embarrassing since Scarce had been protecting him out of his own good will all this time, and this was how he, Raven, returned that gesture?

_Well shit_, he thought as he waited for Scarce to say something. The man looked thoughtful, and it took a few moments before he opened his mouth, but what came out wasn't at all what Raven had been expecting.

"You know, you've grown on me and I regard you as family," Scarce began and Raven's eyes widened slightly. "Never in my life did I expect this day to come, when you fought my own son," he said quietly and Raven looked away uneasily buy kept on listening. "However, I think it's been in the air for a while, at least over at Blade's horizon. I don't think he liked your choice of love-interest," Scarce said with a wry smile. Raven looked up shocked and opened his mouth to protest but it died somewhere on its way since Scarce silenced him with a hand. "I am aware that you're not in love with Draco Malfoy, or at least not yet, but my son seems to think so and to be honest I believe he is jealous." Raven was struck speechless, something Scarce quickly realised and he chuckled quietly. "I am not even sure if Blade is aware of it himself, but he does love you, you know." Raven still couldn't make his brain work. He was quite sure he looked very much like an brainless idiot, or a dunderhead which his father Severus used to call him in school before they discovered that they were related. "I am only telling you this because I am aware of how Blade verbally attacked you, and I don't want you to held it against him. Blade will never admit he is in love with you, once he realises that, but I thought you ought to be aware of it." Scarce paused and Raven shifted slightly in his chair and stole a quick glance at the still sleeping Blade. He shook his head. He found it impossible to believe that the one he had shared so much memories with was in love with him, or would be soon at any cost. Simply inconceivable.

"I trust you not to speak to him about this, at least not until a later date when everything has calmed down a bit." Raven nodded absently. He sure as hell wouldn't drag this up anytime soon!

"For what it's worth, I am sorry it turned out this way," Raven finally said. Scarce nodded.

"I am not angry with either of you, perhaps a bit frustrated that two grown men such as yourselves can't handle this in a more discreet and mature way, but then again I am aware that you're both persons who feels strongly and act upon your emotions," Scarce said wisely and stood up. "I think it's time for Blade to wake up. I'll leave you too it," and before Raven had the time to react Scarce had glided out the door and disappeared. Raven cursed in a low voice before looking at Blade. _How the hell was he supposed to wake him without starting another fight?_

After thinking for a while in the silent room, he decided to wake him up gently. He sat down on the side of the bed and reached out his hand and stroked Blade's cheek softly. Blade murmured something and turned slightly to the side. This brought out a small smile on Raven's lips and he leaned over Blade and shook him slightly, but not with too much force.

"Blade," he said in a low voice. "It's time to wake up now." Blade groaned loudly and turned around until he was on his back. Raven was still leaning over him when Blade slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times and simply stared at Raven before his mind remembered what had occurred between them only hours ago. Raven recognised the look and tiled his head slightly on the side.

"Hi," he said, and his warm breath hit Blade's face, caressing him.

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	28. Chapter 28

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**ONE WAY OR ANOTHER**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT**

**BETA: ****Murphyangel**

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"What the…" Blade said.

"Look, before you say anything else… I am sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I handled it badly," he said hurriedly but clearly enough to be understood. Blade nodded slowly as their eyes met.

"I am sorry too… I don't know why I said what I said…" Blade trailed off softly and sat up in bed. He winced slightly and Raven felt a tingle of sympathy for him, even though he had deserved every bit of what he got.

"What do you say… shall we forget it all?" Raven asked with a sexy smile in place. Blade nodded eagerly, but deep down they both knew this wouldn't be forgotten by either of them. Raven helped Blade to sit up.

"Where are your clothes?" Raven asked as he looked around the bare room. Nothing apart from the furniture was there. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'll just get you something out of the wardrobe," he decided before Blade could answer. He swaggered over to the big wardrobe and opened its two doors wide. "Hmm…" he said as he began to look for something nice for Blade to wear. He finally chose a simple pair of dark jeans and a black shirt.

"Are these alright?" he asked and held the articles up for Blade to see.

"Yeah, sure," Blade agreed and stood up. He only had his underwear on, but they were used to seeing each other without any clothing at all so they both took it in a stride. Raven threw the clothes on the bed next to Blade and said: "I'm glade we had this talk… I have to go and chat with the vampires… I guess I'll see you later." He stuffed his hands inside his jeans pockets and looked at Blade awkwardly while chewing his lip. Blade too seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"Er, yeah. See you later," he responded. With a nod Raven left the room. As the door closed behind him he let go of the sight he had been holding in. _Thank __god__ we__'__re guys_… he thought. _I mean, imagine us sitting there talking it through like some old ladies over apiece of gossip?! That__'__s disturbing…_ he shuttered deep in thought. He was actually glad that they didn't discuss the matter any closer. He smiled broadly, finally _that _was over! He had half been expecting Blade to attack him. In retrospect he thought that their talk had turned out rather well. With that thought in mind his step got a new spring in it, and he practically flew down the stairs in his hunt of vampires.

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"Dracula, Ancius!" he called when he finally found the two of them together, stuffed in an old room.

"Yes?" they both answered at the same time and Raven grinned at them.

"I was wondering if you have the time to talk to me… but if you're busy I totally understand-" Ancius cut him off before he could ramble on.

"Time is all a vampire has," he interrupted. "So come sit down and tell me the latest news…" Raven rolled his eyes. Trust Ancius to be interested in gossip.

"Yeah well, it's not about something I've seen or heard, it's rather about a thought I had," Raven told them as he threw himself down in a chair carelessly and sprawled. Dracula wrinkled his nose at the sight. He himself was sitting perfectly correct with a straight back and one leg crossed over the other. Raven secretly thought he looked like a fruitcake doing that, especially with the black and red cape and all, but he didn't dare say it out loud. He'd rather live -thank-you-very-much.

"In that case, kindly spare us," Ancius said arrogantly and Dracula swatted him on his head. "Hey!" Ancius snapped but was ignored.

"Please tell us what's on your mind," Dracula said with a graceful sweep of his arm. Raven nodded.

"Yeah… Um, it's about the Holiday. As you know the humans are still a bit wary of you… the undead I mean," he added as Dracula raised an eyebrow. "So I thought that _maybe_ we shouldn't invite any more vampires… you know, not that I don't want them to come with us but… eh, I think that perhaps the humans need a bit more time to get used to the idea. So in other words I think it's quite enough with you and Ancius there…" he trailed off and felt like a fool since he couldn't express himself better with words.

"Are you quite through with your rambling?" Ancius asked. "Good grief boy! You're worse than my late uncle… fine meal he was," Ancius mused and Raven suppressed a shudder. He really didn't need to know about Ancius killings! Dracula seemed to be pondering what he had just said. Raven tried not to fidget in his chair as he waited in the silence.

"I believe you're right… Perhaps it is too soon to be introducing my people to your other part of the family," Dracula finally said and Raven nodded gratefully.

"What do you mean?" Ancius asked him. Dracula turned to the blonde.

"I will inform Rafael that the invitation to come with us on vacation is hereby withdrawn.," Dracula told him and Ancius groaned loudly and shook his head.

"You always have to ruin all the fun!" he groaned. "Where the hell is the fun in going on a vacation with the idle little humans?" he asked the room. Dracula and Raven shared a look before Raven leaned forward and petted Ancius on the arm in an attempt to be friendly.

"There, there. I am sure there will be other humans you can scare together with your vampire friends some other time," Raven said soothingly and in the corner of his eye he could see Dracula shaking in silent laugher but Ancius never noticed. Instead he seemed to perk up.

"You're right! I never thought of it that way! There is plenty of time, isn't there? And in the mean time I can always scare the humans at whatever place we'll end up…" Ancius feel in deep thought and Raven took that as his queue to leave.

"Thank you, Father," he told Dracula who nodded to him. "I knew you'd understand. Give Rafael and the others my best, would you?" he said. "I'll inform Midnight and Fire in person," he added.

"Yes, I will," Dracula promised and with those words Raven left the room.

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Next he had to find the two vampires. Somehow he didn't think it would be all that difficult. All he had to do was listen for the room where the most noise came from. It was amazing how the two vampires managed to argue, and yet still stay alive. If he had been either one of them, he would have killed his partner a long time ago.

He had to walk to the ground floor before he found them in the living room. They were the only ones there and Raven could immediately tell why.

"I can't believe you!" Midnight shouted. "You _never _do _anything _right!" Fire seemed to take great offence to that, since he inched closer until they were only a few millimetres apart. Raven hurriedly interrupted before Fire could return the… well, fire. He'd rather not sit through another one of their arguments, he had been present to watch far too many as it were.

"Hi there!" he said loudly and stepped into the room. The two vampires snapped their heads towards him quickly. They both looked very surprised to see him there.

"Raven!" Midnight said with a small smile. "Fancy seeing you up and about!"

"Oh, so you heard about the fight?" he asked awkwardly and came to a stop in front of them.

"Did we _hear_?" Fire said with a snort. "The whole fucking manor heard! Not only that, but we were watching as well. Naturally I was hoping you'd win…" Midnight rolled his eyes as Raven blushed. He had been kind of out of it, so he hadn't realised at the time who might be watching.

"You got him good," Midnight commented. "At least you never do something half-way." Raven glared at him and Midnight got the hint to drop the subject. "Is there something we can do for you?" he continue and Raven nodded.

"Yes, there is actually," he said and scratched his head. Midnight raised an eyebrow.

"Bad news then, I take it?" the vampire said and Fire looked on curiously while being surprisingly quiet. Raven shrugged slightly.

"Depend on how you see it I suppose…" he said trailing off before taking a deep breath and starting again. "I am concerned over how your presence is affecting the humans and thus it has been decided by Dracula and I, that all vampires apart from Dracula himself and Ancius is to return to the castle," he said formally and Fire blinked.

"You're uninviting us?" he asked incredulously while Midnight simply looked at Raven, making him feel very guilty.

"It's nothing personal!" he told Fire hurriedly. The blonde still didn't look convinced nor happy with the news. "Look, I am sorry about this, but the humans need to get used to the idea of the undead. As it is they're scared of you guys, even though they don't admit it out loud." Midnight finally nodded and his black cape flapped slightly down at his feet as he moved.

"I heard your reasons and I see the truth in it. I too have noticed that… some of the humans are uneasy around us. Perhaps it is a good idea to give them some space." Raven nodded gratefully.

"Yeah, and look at the bright side; you don't have to follow us to some godforsaken beech and spend all day long in the sun!" he joked and Midnight cracked a smile.

"That's true. I hadn't been looking forward to that at all, I must admit."

"Well I had!" Fire said. When Raven and Midnight looked at him incredulously he stomped his foot like a child. "It's true!" he insisted.

"Whatever you say…" Midnight murmured with a roll of his eyes and Fire took a threatening step forward.

"Are you mocking me?" he hissed. Raven hurriedly walked over to the door since he could clearly see yet another argument coming up between the two of them.

"I will talk to you later, after the acclamation!" he called out. The two vampires were to busy staring each other down so they simply waved lazily too him without looking up. Raven suppressed a snort and decided that his job there was done. It was time to move on with his life.

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End file.
